Camping

My MOMs club planned a trip to go camping last weekend, and we decided it was the perfect opertunity for our first camp out with the kids. We planned on just doing one night so if there were any problems, it was only a short trip, and we would only loose one night's sleep. As expected, camping with a 19 month old was a little challenging, but we had an amazing time! We're already planning our next trip with the MOMs club in October.

Before heading out, we stopped at the sporting goods store to pick up a shade, and new camp stove, and some chairs for the boys. We got to the park after about an hour's drive, and checked in. Set-up went smoothly with me corralling the kids and Jimmy unloading the car and putting up the tent and shade. Our site was on small road, so there was a lot of "Brend-O! Stop!" But he mostly listened (still working on that) and never really got away from us. Soon, we were set up, had had lunch, made a quick trip to the local HEB for some things we forgot (a Mooney family camping tradition) while the boys took a nap in the car, and headed down to the Guadalupe River. We didn't know what to expect, so we were pleasantly surprised to find a lot of people wading in a slow moving, shallow river. The kids had a ball! Jimmy and I did too =) James found some new friends and played with them and Brendan picked up every rock to see how it would splash when dropped. It was so fun! Eventually we were all sitting in a shallow section skipping rocks. By that time we were all tired (I was getting sunburned) and hungry so we packed up and headed back to our camp site. We had a snack and rested in and around the tent before heading on a short (like really) hike before dinner. We walked up to the bathrooms than down the trail for about 10 minutes before James and Brendan had lost interest in walking in the heat. They both made it back on their own feet though! Tough guys =) Then it was time for dinner. Hot dogs, of course, salad and s'mores bars (no campfires in this drought). We cleaned up from dinner and got the tent ready for sleeping, then walked to another family's (from my MOMs club) camp site and brought our chairs and flash lights. James had so much fun walking in the woods with his older friends in the dark. Brendan played with some balls and talked to everyone. We sat and talked with the four other families until the camp's curfew. Brendan was sleeping so we carried him back and James was wide awake (much to my surprise!). But we got back to our tent and Brendan immediately woke up and James immediately hit the sheets. It took a while to settle Brendan down (after midnight...yawn) but eventually it was me and the kids on the air mattress and poor Jimmy on the ground. It was a sleepless night (as expected) for me and Brendan, but Jimmy and James seemed to do quite well! James woke up at the crack of down (as usual) and woke us all up. We decided to pack up early and have bagels and cream cheese (instead of scrambled eggs and sausage like we were planning) for breakfast. After packing up we walked around to the other campsites, as they were waking up, and said our goodbyes. Then it was time to head home. Jimmy and I were pretty tired, so we stopped at Starbucks (a rare treat for these dieters) on the way home. We ended up being home and had the car unpacked by 10:30 am! We all had naps after lunch and were all talking about when we would go camping again =)