Our Adventures: Camping TRIP

Brett and I used to love camping BEFORE kids. We actually tried to camp when we had a 3 and 1.5 year old. It was a DISASTER!!!!! We actually threw away the tent and vowed to never do that again. SO... Our neighbors thought it would be a great idea to plan a camping trip with several families. I quickly said that we were in, but decided to hold off on telling Brett right away. I really wanted the kids to experience camping - we could manage three nights, RIGHT? Brett was a little apprehensive at first but quickly warmed up to the idea. We were spending three nights in only tents. At least we weren't alone!

We packed up the truck and headed to PJ Hoffmaster State Park (BTW - that is the same park that we had our horrendous experience when the kids were toddlers!!!) The weather forecast looked great. I bought a little 4 man tent for Blake and any other little boys who would want to sleep with him. Blake was so excited. The girls would sleep in with Brett and I. I also bought the best air mattress that I could find for us to sleep on.

While we were setting up, we noticed that one of our poles were broken. Thank goodness that I am camping with Brett, he put a splint on the pole and it held just fine.

We had four families total which included 11 kids 9 and younger... The kids were amazing!!!! We actually rarely saw them. They had so much fun going on adventures, bike riding, playing at the playground and at the creek. During the day, we went down to the beach. We were right on Lake Michigan. We even had a treasure hunt one evening for them.

Everything was going just great UNTIL ---- I walked into a HOT camping lantern. Long story short, I learned a lesson about how bad second degree burns are. It wasn't sore until the blisters popped open...

We also LOST our truck keys for about 4 hours. Brett searched and searched for the keys for me to remember that I MIGHT have put them in my sweatshirt pocket. Sure enough they were there. Brett took it very well - maybe he was still feeling bad about my burn:)

After we were all packed up, our truck wouldn't start. Our battery was dead from having the doors always open. We were the comedy act for the camping trip.

Even with all that, we are already planning another camping trip next summer.

There was a river that came out to Lake Michigan. The kids loved playing in the calmer water. They caught turtles and minnows.