It was an adventure! A very fun, sometimes miserable, but fun adventure... it seems that most fun adventures have a few of the not-so-fun moments. That's what gives us all the stories to talk about later, right?
We went camping for the 1st time since Seth was just a little guy... well, much littler than he is now. All I can say is... it's a good, very good thing that we got the minivan when we did. We loaded that thing to full capacity. Never in a million years would we have been able to carry even a third of what we took camping with us. Amazing!
Anyway, our young adults Sunday school class had their annual camping trip (this was actually only the second one), and we decided this was our year to go. There were 5 other families besides us. We got a group site and had a community fire and basically did everything together for the weekend. It was a blast and such a great way to get to know people that you often just see in passing.
It began raining just as we got close to Devil's Lake (in Baraboo, WI). When we pulled up, our camp spot was nice and wet... and muddy. Our sweet 15 month old (in a couple days) refuses to walk so she was soaked and muddy within seconds. The campfire that night was deserted early due to rain... lots of rain. Everything was damp and cold. It got down into the 30s that night. Very few people in our group slept. I guess there was a huge party going on in another campground, a barfing little boy a couple tents away, and 2 boys arguing over who was in whose spot (yes, Sam and Seth in their own little tent next door), several babies refusing to sleep, and a little Aaron who kept rolling over into Daddy's space . I say I guess because I'm really not too sure... Adalie and I slept pretty soundly throughout the night. I was completely baffled by all the conversations at the campfire the next morning =)
Sam and Seth spent hours and hours "exploring" the woods behind camp with all of their buddies. There were 4 other boys around their ages and 2 girls. They discovered their own secret field on the other side of the woods. They were the 1st to ever find it... and there just happened to be rows of corn neatly planted there =). Aaron and Adalie stuck a little closer to us, but had a blast digging, crawling, chewing, finding and just getting totally dirty. It was awesome!
On Saturday, we all decided to take a little stroll. On our way out of the campground, Sam and Seth had a little teeter-totter accident in which Seth nearly broke a foot... so it was back to camp for us. We loaded up the car and drove down to the lake and picnicked while the group went on a short, little 5 hour hike... uphill both ways, I am told... though nobody around here knows what uphill really means. Anyway, Seth hobbled around camp the rest of the weekend, but is now starting to walk normally. Poor fella!
The rest of the weekend stayed fairly dry and enjoyable. We really loved singing praise songs with all the kiddos and staying up late telling funny, way too personal stories around the campfire. I loved getting to know everyone so much better!
Sunday morning we packed it all up and headed out... in the nick of time! Just as we buckled up and pulled out of camp another monumental rain storm hit us... and it's been going strong (with only a few breaks) ever since. As I type right now, the lightning is flashing and the thunder is crashing out the windows. I'm really hoping our basement holds out!
Oh, and on the way home we rode a ferry. How exciting right... well, at least Sam thought so. It was the boys' first time ever on a boat.
So there you have it... our 1st camping experience as a family of 6. So now that we know it's do-able, I am hoping it will happen more often... we'll see!
