Camping

Our first attempt at camping with kids.  We had reservations to camp at Beaver Lake, just on the river side of the dam.  But 3 days before the weekend, huge rains came in and flooded the campsite.  So plan B, we camped at Alex's house.  It turned out to be such a fun time.  Instead of floating or buying pool passes for the summer, we went in halvsies on Alex with this awesome raft.  It comfortably holds 6 people.  There are 5 seats around the whole in the middle, then a "sunning deck" could hold 3 people.  It was a huge hit for kids and adults too.  There will be several weekends (and weekdays I hope) spent here.

Alex has a cool fire pit area that we hung out at when we weren't on the lake.  Jude spent this time on a towel or someone's lap since he didn't want to crawl on the rocks. I can't blame him.  By the way, the paci is now being kept in the bed or carseat of the car.  No more paci when it's awake time.  He isn't too bothered by it.

Riley had a great time.  Here she is snuggling with her Daddy.  We set up our tents down by the lake, then after the kids went to sleep, we would go back up to the fire pit and relax for a while without bothering them.  It really worked out so well.  They both cried the first night, but were very happy to see their beds the second night. I was glad we weren't in a camping area around other people to hear them crying!

Riley in her own camping chair.  She used it way more than I thought she would.  Jude's baby backpack came in very handy.  Any time he was fussy and everyone's hands were busy and couldn't hold him, someone would put him in the backpack and carry him that way.  Win-win for everyone.

Here is the third day of camping.  We left just after dinner on Sunday night, all of us were ready for a hot shower and our comfy beds.  Jude is really excited about his pita bread right here.  I'm just glad he is happy!

So I think we did a great job of making lemonade out of lemons for the weekend.  Camping at Alex's ended up being so much better than camping an hour from home with lots of other campers.  We had great food, great company, no worries about being too noisy for other campers, or being annoyed with other campers, and a lake almost to ourselves (despite the random fishing boats here and there).

The lake was pretty yucky after such a hard rain the few days before.  But Alex lives on a "no wake" lake, so our raft never got knocked around by boats.  This setting is so perfect!  By August I plan on being very dark, with 2 kids that are good swimmers.  Okay, maybe not that second part, but at least 2 kids who aren't afraid of their life jackets or the water!