the story of us: camping

Hudson has been asking to go camping for at least a year and we just hadn't been able to find a good time and wanted to wait until Harley was older. We had a free weekend in May and decided to make it happen before it got way too hot this summer. I started looking at some cabins and the boys quickly reminded me, "No, mom, we mean in a tent." This had been the plan all along, but I thought maybe they had changed their mind and wanted to enjoy the luxuries of air conditioning and real mattresses. I was wrong. So we borrowed a tent from our neighbor, I made a run to the grocery store and away we went!

We went to Jellystone Park Hill Country and it was a great first camping experience. It is only about 45 minutes away as an added bonus. It rained right before we got there the first day and cooled things down, so much so that we actually got a little chilly the first night. Can't complain about that. The park itself is very kid friendly. There is a pool, a giant jumping pillow, crafts, pedal karts, laser tag, general store, restrooms/showers and it is kept clean. The only thing I was a little bit disappointed in is that it is called Jellystone Park, but Yogi only made one appearance for approximately five minutes the entire time we were there. Not a deal breaker though.

We got there right before dark Friday night and quickly started pitching our tent. Thankfully, Garrett knows what he is doing because it wasn't our tent and there were no instructions. It was dark when we got everything setup and unloaded so we built a fire and roasted marshmallows. We soon realized that we forgot a lantern and utensils, but we macgyvered and made do just fine.

I was a little worried about the sleep situation with five of us in a one room tent, but we all slept beautifully both nights. They even took a nap on Saturday. We had a spot with electricity and water and were able to plug in a fan which helped.

On Saturday, we took a hayride, jumped, explored, did crafts, swam, took a nap, played laser tag and rode the pedal kart (which is not as easy as it looks). We went on Mother's Day weekend and they had a pancake breakfast Sunday morning so we enjoyed that before heading out.

Home sweet home.

Breakfast

My present from Hayden.

I'm pretty sure Hayden thinks I'm going to embarrass him for the rest of his life. He can swim decent, but I am a no nonsense gal when it comes to water safety and in big pools with lots of other kids and trying to keep up with three at the same time, I just felt better about him wearing the float jacket. Hopefully, after this summer I will be able to let it go. :)