And I Camped~

On Friday, we set out for beautiful Milford Lake to meet up with some family friends as well as my parents and brothers.  All totaled there were 27 of us that met to camp!  There was even a sweet little 7 week old baby to snuggle;-)

 I've been dreading looking forward to this outing for some time.  In fact, we set it up clear back in November to reconnect with old friends!  How were we to know that the weekend we chose would be one of the hottest weekends of the summer?  Even so, we had a lot of fun!  I had a few revelations about this whole camping experience.  It was definitely a learning experience, but I'd quite possibly contemplate a repeat experience.

Camping is Cost Effective- Our parents had rented cabins to sleep in, but we slept under the stars.  We had reserved a shelter for the day, so there was really minimal cost associated with camping.  In terms of food, every sibling took a meal to buy groceries for and prepare.  This meant we only had to cook 1 out of 6 meals!  We had Saturday breakfast, and Alex made bisquits and gravy, scrambled eggs, danish rolls, granola bars, and juice.  We had done some prep work ahead of time to make it less time intensive at camp.

There is a peace with camping- There is just something about being around a beautiful body of water with little to do other than sit around and enjoy the company.  I loved that part!  I didn't feel the need to be connected to anything, and I just got to enjoy the moment.  Being rather high strung, this is a rare weekend for me, so I could definitely do that again!

Camping is Fun- We don't own a boat, but our friends did!  The kids loved riding on the boat, and then they did some swimming in the lake as well!  Rowan had a ball, and it was certainly an experience we could not provide him without friends!  I will say, I had fun!

Captain Rowan

Camping is NOT restful- We had Isla sleep in our tent the first night.  That's right folks, we "tent" camped.  Her pack n play was not level, so Isla kept rolling to a side of it in the night.  She had a stuffy nose due to the night air, and she pretty much cried the entire first night except for about 3 or 4 hours.  Alex and I took turns rocking her in a rocking chair down in the shelter, because she at least wouldn't cry there!  The second night we sent Miss Isla to my parents' cabin for the air conditioner.  She screamed for them for about an hour, but had a much better night, I think!

The tent-quite spacious!

There are BUGS camping- While we were camping, Isla got stung by a wasp!  It took us a while to figure out why she was screaming, and then her little finger became a little sausage.  The good news is she is not allergic to wasp stings, but it was unfun!  Rowan also got stung in the armpit by something creepy crawly.  He yelped, but we had medicine this time!  We found numerous ticks (Ewwww!), but at least no snakes were spotted!

Kids wear themselves out camping-There were many young kids in our group. They literally ran around chasing each other and playing from sun up until sun down!  They exhausted themselves and really needed little entertaining.  It was beautiful:-)

Rowan and his cousins!  Pure delight!

Rowan was taking a cold 5 gallon bucket bath!

Skipping rocks and the beautiful sunset!

Sassy was a fan of the rocks!

Talia and Baby Isla taking in the beauty.

She went swimming in her dress, and the dress had to go!

My mom, Isla, Jordyn, and Delilah looking out at the lake!

Rowan fishing~

Rowan was pretty unsure of swimming in a life jacket~

My mom and Delilah rode the "Hot Dog." 

There you have it!  My first camping experience revelations.  We made memories, and that was the whole point.  I'm glad we went, and I can cross it off of my summer list;-)