Cousin's First Annual Camping Trip

We survived our second camping adventure!  This time we went with my cousin Aaron and his family and my cousin Greg and his family.  It was a bummer that my brother and his family couldn't make it but we're hoping they'll be able to come next year.  We grew up really close as little kids and spent almost every single day together so it was so fun to get the chance to get to do this with our kids.  Only we were supposed to be the grown-ups this time!

We got to Detroit Lake around 1:45pm on Friday.  We were shocked that it only took us about an hour and a half to get there (and Finley didn't cry the whole way)!  The drive was just beautiful.  We took the kids to a little restaurant in Detroit for ice cream and a snack.  As we were finishing our meal a man came up and told us he wanted to compliment us on how well behaved our boys are.  Then he proceeded to tell us that he believes this is a reflection of our parenting.  What a great start to the weekend!  

We checked into the campground around 3:00pm and proceeded to set up camp.  The boys were entertained by the many chipmunks we saw around camp and had fun exploring and collecting pine cones for our fire.  

Greg and Melanie came around 4:00pm and started setting up their camp.  We made hot dogs and beans for dinner and made smores.  YUM!  Aaron and Serena came around 9:30pm.  I was shocked at how easily their tent went up for the first time in the dark!  Aaron is an Eagle Scout though so I guess I shouldn't have been so skeptical.

We had a REALLY rough night.  Finley woke up crying several times.  The kind of crying that required pacing around in a tent that was too short for pacing.  I seriously thought we would have to pack up the next day and go home... that was how bad it was.  To top it off, the people across from us were partying.  At 2am we heard the guy talking to the park ranger about how he knew he was underage and drunk and so on.  Pretty funny.  I'm sure he felt great when our camp woke up around 6am.  (insert evil laugh here).  We were also on hwy 22 which was pretty loud I must say.  Waaaaaaaay too loud in fact.

The next morning Kent made breakfast.  We had a sugar cereal selection for the kids which they ate directly out of the boxes, eggs, bacon, sausage and pancakes.  Coffee too!  After cleanup we walked down to Detroit Lake.  The kids played with their fishing poles, threw rocks in the water and even did a little swimming.  We ate some lunch there at the water and then Melanie, Serena and I all attempted to get Jeffrey, Ricky and Hudson to nap.  Melanie was the clear winner of this task.  

When everyone got back to camp the kids went to the playground to play and before we knew it it was dinner time.  Melanie made us great foil meal dinners (meat, veggies & cream of mushroom soup wrapped in tin foil and cooked on the fire).  It was so good!  And of course there were smores for dessert.  I really enjoyed sitting around the campfire and chatting after the kids went to bed.  Finley slept much better the second night.  He only woke up the entire campground around 12:30am and that was it.  Fabulous!

Sunday morning Aaron and Serena made breakfast (bacon, pancakes, eggs & muffins) and before we knew it it was time to go home.  Next year we'd like to stay one more night.  It was so much work for just two nights, that's for sure.  Mom and Dad - good work taking us camping so often as kids... I had NO IDEA how much work it was for you!

Finley didn't do so well in the car on the way home - lots of crying.  Can someone tell me why some kids sleep in the car and others cry hysterically?  I'm ready to know the answer to this. 

We did stop for lunch at a super cool 50's spot in Salem called Rock n' Rogers.  I would definitely say stop there for lunch sometime if you're going through Salem - great 50's diner style menu.  Their breakfast menu looked great too!

Getting the kids into the outdoors was so fabulous.  It was so nice to have room for the kids to run and play together in open spaces.  It's amazing how much fun they have when there's room to roam and when they're surrounded by beauty (and dirt).  I asked Spencer what his favorite thing about camping was and he replied without hesitation, "Stewart."  Isn't that sweet?

I'm hoping to do at least one camping trip per month next summer.  Anyone want to go?

Kent and Finley at 5:40am on Saturday morning sitting at the fire.

Stewart, Hudson and Spencer standing still if only for a moment.  

Off to the lake!

Finley and Mommy in the Ergo

Our little campers:

Front - Finley, Evie, Ricky, Hudson, Jeffrey

Back - Stewart and Spencer