camping: the rest

 We had the most awesome campsite this year. Our tents were all set up a little hill, down a cute little trail away from the main area. It felt like our own little forest. And it was
the perfect place for the kids to play.

I had wanted to get a family picture while we were up there.
We probably should have done it the first day, when we were all clean(er),
But this picture, from our very last morning
when I was too tired to fight Ellie about putting on real clothes,
well it's much more true-to-life camping with littles.
So. That's that.

Wearing a boy coat was actually her idea.
We have a nice pink one, but this is the one she wanted to bring,
until we got up there and she needed to put it on, naturally. Then it was the worst coat ever.

We had really great weather,
unlike last year,
until the final night.  All afternoon the skies were teasing us, with dark rolling clouds and thunder that would then pass by and clear up to sunny blue.
At one point it looked like our dutch oven dinner might get rained out,
so Kent and Jonah rigged up a giant tarp for us to sit under.
Then, the sky cleared up again and they took it down.
I'm just speculating, but I think the guys actually just wanted something fun to do.

We ventured to "hike" around the lake one afternoon.
It's a 1.2 mile trail.
It took us three hours.
Wee little legs and wee little tempers.
But I think most of us had mostly fun.
And as long as we kept handing Ellie licorice, she was good. (Sort of.)

All was awesome, 
until the final night there.
Let's just say it included a little bit of really loud neighbors,
a whole lot of rain,
and wind,
one boy who needed to use the potty during the night (next year I'm bringing the training potty! Going out in the dark to trek to the bathrooms in the rain is not cool at all)
a teeny bit of sleep,
and then big trucks chopping and hauling logs starting at about 5:30 am.

But, 
it was the last night, so we got to simply roll up our sopping tents and drive back home to the hot showers and cozy beds that awaited.

Until next year, Tony Grove!