Camping

This last weekend our family took a little adventure and decided to go camping.

Yes, you heard me right. We decided to take three children under the age of five into the wilderness. And yes, I agree with you, we are a little bit crazy. But S and I both grew up camping and it's something that is important to us to introduce our boys to. Some of my best memories growing up are of spending days up at Antelope Lake, swimming and boating and roasting marshmallows and riding our bikes down to the little general store at the entrance to the campground for mid day ice creams. I remember wandering in the woods, making up stories and adventure and just getting lost in nature.  I want my boys to have those same kind of memories, and that means letting my fears and worries take a back seat.

(Seriously though, how can a mama not be a little worried? A huge body of water, steep hills, rocks and cacti, fire......) 

But everyone survived and I think our boys are well on their ways to being little outdoors men!

We recently acquired a pretty cool pop up camper from my in-laws, which made camping with kids, especially a baby, a whole lot easier. We all got to sleep inside, the big boys and S in one bed and R and me in the other. Much better than a tent, considering R is still waking up a few times a night to nurse. It was nice to have a place to change clothes and diapers, and even just get out of the sun and sit for a few members. It was definitely a far cry from our college camping days, where we slept in the back of cars and the only supplies we brought was beer!

 (nursing in the great outdoors!)

We're lucky to have Lake Pleasant less than an hour from our house. It's easy to get to, close to home in case of an emergency, and warm enough to camp at even in March. I admit, I would prefer to have pine trees as opposed to cactus, and I would love to take the kids and S some of the place I used to go as a kid, but it still a nice little lake and a way to get out of town. We went up on Saturday afternoon and spent the afternoon fishing and playing in the water (way to cold for me to swim, but both of the boys went in no problem!) and then lit a fire and did hot dogs and smores for dinner. The boys were in heaven, eating food that they never get and staying up way past their bed times!

 It was fun. It was dirty and there were some tears and I may have lost a few years of my life when L2 stumbled at the waters edge and almost plunged headfirst into the lake.... but overall, it was great. I know it will get easier as the kids get older and we are able to let them off their leash a little, but for now I"m enjoying showing them the ropes!

I was really surprise that both of them went in the water. It was pretty cold, and L2 wasn't a huge fan at first, but they both spent quite a long time splashing around. L spent almost an hour "fetching" sticks that we would throw out to him..... it was pretty cute!

So, overall, camping was a success. It as also a good test run for our big camping trip in April when my family is here. (Yeah, you think we're crazy going with three kids? On that trip we will have six kids!!!)  I think we got most of the kinks worked out of the camper, and mostly I feel a lot more confident about how the boys, and baby R, will handle it.  So, I'll leave you with some more picture of our adventure!!!