Sunday, April 27, 2008

Goin' Campin'...Campin out under the stars...

This week, before we left to go camping on Thursday afternoon, Mira laughed a funny cackle laugh and Joshua enjoyed storytime with Memaw and Stephanie. But, Thursday afternoon we left to go camping. Joshua was super excited since I bought his sleeping bag a week and a half ago and has been having us read "Curious George Goes Camping" every day 5 times a day.

Thursday we headed out to a local state park and set up camp then ate dinner and walked where we could on foot. Driving into the park we saw a deer. We are using my Grandparent's tent and thankfully it was easy to set up. Josh wasted no type starting his search for worms in the dirt with my trowel that we brought from home. We took the swing for Mira which was a very good choice and she spent a lot of time in that. Joshua loved being in the tent and went right to sleep without a problem. Jack made one escape around dinner time and we later changed his hookup but he did come back after running around where we will never know.

Friday, we enjoyed bacon and eggs from the camp stove before heading out to the camp store, playground and our first hike. We started with a two mile hike we had also done before Joshua was born that took us out to a lighthouse and back. It was rated easy and there were lots of other people and pets on the walk with us. Joshua made it over half way before he slowed down so much we had to throw him in the backpack carrier. He was excited to see other dogs, water, butterflies, flowers, and sand. We wore Joshua and Jack out on that hike. So back at camp we ate lunch and headed down for a nap. After a difficult nap (for Joshua) we made a camp fire and dinner. Joshua loved the fire, it was hard to keep him away from it! and enjoyed roasting marshmallows. Bedtime was again easy.

Saturday, we got going on our hike sooner and chose a difficult hike that took us to a beach and back. Soon into our walk, Jason spotted a snake slithering into the root system of a fallen tree. Then just a little bit ahead we saw a garter snake laying across our path. That guy didn't want to move but Jason nudged him with a stick and he finally slithered away. Then a little bit farther up we saw a large black snake sliding away over a log. I was just about ready to turn back at that point but we went on. We saw a marsh, beaver dam, blue herons, lizard, butterflies, a ground hog and ants (a highlight for Josh). This time he made it halfway before we stopped for a snack and put him in the backpack. After the hike we again had lunch and mandatory nap/quiet time, we explored a playground made from used tires at another beach site and had ice cream cones we picked up from the camp store. Saturday's dinner was spaghetti over the campfire and off to bed for Joshua.

It rained Saturday night while we tired to sleep. Joshua slept through the rain but Mira did not like it and Jason and I worried about it coming in the tent all night. We had a little puddle that we sopped up with dirty clothes and were pretty much ok the rest of the night. We just packed up this morning and headed home instead of staying to play on the playground or attempt another short hike because of the mud.

We are all contentedly tired and Joshua is in bed for the night. He had a good nap after a long weekend of sunshine and exercise. It was awesome to be together and trying something new. I can't wait for our next adventure.

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