Camping

Ben and I have been talking for the last year about taking the boys on their first tent camping trip. We used to tent camp in our early years but haven't been since Ethan was born. Since the second week of school went off without a hitch and the weather changes from one day to the next, we jumped on the weekend outlook that showed Friday and Saturday with good weather and I packed up the car while Ethan was at school on Friday. We headed up to Desoto Falls on Friday afternoon which is about an hour to an hour and a half away and set up camp. By the time camp was set up, it was getting dark and dinnertime.

Daddy kept a great fire going and we roasted hot dogs over the fire and ate dinner then moved on to the good stuff....

S'mores! Ethan preferred roasted marshmallows as opposed to the whole s'more and made the silliest faces as he ate his marshmallows!

Caden had to figure out what he thought about the s'mores

Then we sat around the fire and the boys wanted to tell stories

Lucy had her own spot next to the fire and was in heaven checking out all of the bugs and smells of the outdoors. To say she had a blast was an understatement!

It was past bedtime...of course...by the time the boys went to bed and they could not get past their excitement of sleeping in the tent. So it was even later by the time they actually fell asleep :-)

The next morning we got up and ate a small breakfast, then a little later met up with Aunt Donna and Uncle Roger a few miles down the road to eat a big breakfast at Turner's Corner Cafe which is close to where they keep their camper set up on the weekends. Once we got back to our camp, we started breaking down so that we could go hiking. Before we left for our hike, we took pictures of the creek that backed up to our tent site. We camped at the best place! It was beautiful, peaceful, quiet, and you fell asleep listening to the water running through the creek behind you! The boys absolutely LOVED it!

Then we hiked to the lower falls. Maybe next time we can go to the upper falls, they are a bit bigger but they were further away and the boys wouldn't have been able to go the distance.

Ethan loved the hike! Caden...he had his moments ;-)

Then we made it!

Daddy, Lucy, and the boys

Mommy, Lucy, and the boys

And then it was time to hike back down

After we returned from the hike, it was time for some fishing. Ben found an awesome fishing hole in a wider part of the creek where it turned. You could see the fish just swimming around. He cast the the rod and hooked a fish, then each boy had a chance to reel it in. Everyone caught fish and then Ethan got to practice casting the line. He did a great job!

By the time we left the falls and said goodbye to Donna and Roger, it was dinnertime. We headed back down to Gainesville and stopped to eat at a childhood favorite then visited with PawPaw Forrester and Nana Lyndy for a little bit. We finally got back home around 9 and gave the boys a quick shower and put them to bed. An overnight camping trip was PERFECT! Although it is a good bit of work to set up and break down camp for a one day trip, I think for the boys it couldn't have been better. Their excitement did not lead to great sleep in the tent and with Ethan in school now, I wanted him to have a day to rest before Monday came around again.

After church the next morning, we came home and rested for a while, then spent the afternoon outside. The boys and Daddy cleaned up his car and then Ethan and Caden helped me vacuum my car and clean it up from our camping trip.

Another great weekend!!!!