First Family Camping Trip

While Josh and the older kiddos have been camping many, many times, this was the first time I have gone with them.  It was the first time for Sawyer too.  Some friends of ours go camping every year on the last day of school to celebrate and they invited us along with them.  It's definitely not my favorite thing to do but I figured I could make it through one night of camping and I knew the kids would have so much fun going with their friends. 

We went to Eisenhower State Park up at Lake Texoma.  We packed up early on Friday morning and headed up there a little early to get the campsites saved for everyone.  The McKneelys came early too so the kids were able to play together while the adults set up the campsites.

Maddie found a Littlest Pet Shop someone had left behind and she and Kaitlyn played with it the entire campout.  They made little playgrounds and homes for it in the dirt. 

Here's our tent all set up.  We managed to get a queen size air mattress, 3 sleeping bags and a pack 'n play in there with room to spare! 

After we got everything set up Josh took the older kids on the 4-wheeler for a bit.  Sawyer napped for a little bit of that time but when he woke up he was ready to explore.  He was in heaven being outside for two days straight.         

Josh and the kids finally got back from 4-wheeling and we got ready for dinner.  We had Walking Tacos, which was so easy and great for camping.  I cooked the meat at home before we left and then we just warmed it up on the campstove and added it to the bags of chips along with all our toppings.  We ate right out of the bag so there was very little clean up too.  Quick and easy is my kind of meal. Plus everyone ate it, awesome!  All our other friends got there around dinner time and soon it started to get dark.  Josh pulled out the glow sticks and we had just enough for everyone. 

  

We all gathered around the Joyner's campfire and made s'mores. 

I was worried about what Sawyer would do with the fire but he never even tried to touch it or play in it.  Yay!  While we were all gathering around the Joyner's campfire we heard some screams coming from our campsite right next door.  Maddie was yelling about some huge spider.  I rolled my eyes and thought she was just being overly dramatic but some of the other kids started yelling something about a tarantula too.  Sure enough there was an actual tarantula crawling around!  We scared it up a tree but we got a picture before it ran all the way up.   

I've never actually seen one in the wild before and didn't ever imagine that they'd be in Texas!  I was totally creeped out all night long that it was going to fall from that tree and land right on me but thankfully it stayed in its place.   We saw a few more before the camping trip was over but thankfully no snakes!

After we got all the kids in bed and asleep, the adults stayed up talking for a while.  We had lots of fun although it got pretty chilly after dark.  Of course, I didn't pack any coats (because we had planned on it being really hot as usual in Texas but it turned out to be PERFECT weather) so I sat wrapped up in a beach towel.  We made it to bed around 11 or so and got bundled up in our sleeping bags.  The air mattress was awesome and I slept great - thanks to Natalie for bringing extra earplugs!  Sawyer woke up in the middle of the night and joined us on the mattress.  He we right back to sleep so I was fine with him in between us.  Plus I knew he was warm so I think I slept even better.  He stayed asleep for quite a while even after all the other kids were up and running around and yelling.   I think we had finished breakfast before he ever woke up! 

Daddy cooked up some sausage and a few pancakes for breakfast. 

Ryley was great helper and even took out the trash.  

The kids had so much fun playing with their friends.  We hardly saw them the entire campout! Sawyer finally woke up and wanted some breakfast.

I got a picture of the inside of our tent before we started packing everything up.

One of the families we went with is Maddie and Ryley's piano teacher.  This is their little girl, Anabella.  She LOVES Maddie and Maddie is so sweet with her.  From the moment Anabella got there they were pretty much inseparable. 

There were five families at the campout and 21 kids between us!  Maddie was the oldest and Sawyer was the youngest.  Josh and I were the oldest adults there too.  When did we get to be old people?!

After breakfast we packed everything up and got ready to go swimming!  Little did we know that it was going to be quite the hike - straight down the bluff.  Poor Josh made at least 4 trips up and down.  He brought a huge canopy for shade for everyone, the huge water jug, chairs, the big box of food, and everything else.  The kids at least took their own towels and noodles down.  I had the bag, the baby and the baby's life jacket.  It was really pretty down there though. The kids loved it!  The water was pretty cold so there was a lot of time spent just playing in the sand. 

I think Ryley's favorite part of the campout was all the chips he got to eat.  I hardly ever buy these little bags and only bought them this time for our tacos the night before.  He was constantly asking to have more chips!

Maddie spent almost the entire time swimming and a good deal of that time trying to catch a minnow in the bucket but she managed to do it!  I was shocked!  Of course, she wanted to keep it forever but Sawyer kept trying to drink the water out of the cup she had it in so back home to the lake it went. 

Sawyer was just happy to sit in the shade with me and eat chips.  He loved crawling up into all the chairs and down again.  The water was really chilly so he didn't like it much.

 

After a few hours swimming we decided it was time to head back up the massive cliff and head home.  We made the kids help out a little more carrying stuff back up and they were not very happy about it.  It was a really tough climb!  They all passed out in the car on the way home though.    

Overall, I think it was a good camping experience.  I'm not saying that I'd love to go again anytime soon but it was definitely better than I expected.  The weather could NOT have been more perfect, so that was great.  I doubt we'll ever find a weekend like that again!  It was so fun to go with lots of friends too.  We'll have to find a campground with a better swimming area next time though.  Josh said, "Never again!" as we got into the car after packing everything up that cliff. 

I made the mistake of mentioning how nice it would be to have a boat as we were sitting on the beach watching the kids swim and Josh overheard.  But more about that next time. . . :)