we went camping! part 1

I think we're going to be a camping sort of family. Not like the ones who are all hardcore and go during any season (like winter), but more like the ones to try and go once a year in the summer. This is what Tony wants, and I like his plan. Last year we got camping gear for Christmas, so we obviously needed to test it out. Obviously.

The first day (I said DAY, so we'll get to NIGHT later) was great. We started setting up the tent and the kids were stoked. They mostly just ran around the campsite and looked at all the new plants and trees, and then they both wanted to help. Thankfully I packed their "tools" as fun camping toys. So Sadie went to work helping daddy hammer tent pegs, and later on she made her own BUG TENT which is the pile of rocks with a stick in the middle. Lucas was sawing plants with his toy saw and handing out tent pegs.

When we arrived it was overcast and cloudy, and then the thunderstorm rolled in. Sadie would yell THUNDER!!!! and Lucas would immediately find the nearest adult to cling to. We looked for lightening flashes and it thundered all evening before raining.

Nighttime was something else. The kids were SUPER excited to be sleeping in a tent. They each had a flashlight and a glow worm and refused to stay in their sleeping bags for longer than 2 minutes. They jumped and giggled and flashed their flashlights at each other. It was the best bedtime ever...until it became the worst bedtime ever.

They were both exhausted. Sadie was winding down, laying in her bed, singing to herself or glow worm or whatever. Lucas was past it. Tried taking the flash light away. Instant meltdown. Then he wanted to colour in the app on my Kobo. Then he refused to turn off the flash light. He got super screamy 15 minutes before the parks official "quiet time" and nothing we did could fix it. It was 11pm, and Lucas finally fell asleep, flashlight shining in his face, on top of his sleeping bag.

I was so wired, I didn't really sleep well. I felt half awake all night, and around 2-3 am I heard owls hooting at each other in the woods. I've never heard owls before, so it was a treat for me, even if I was the only one awake to hear them.

My fearless girl. I was not paying attention to her, and all I heard was HAPILLAR! I turned around and saw this little guy creeping up her arm, and her with a look of sheer glee. She loves her small creatures. She put him in the bug tent and they both watched it creep around in there.

 Kids both slept until 7:30, which was early given the wild night before. They loved drinking tea and eating outside. Sadie called every meal a PIC-ICK. She loves picnics.

 Another victim of the bug tent. She was overjoyed to find a snail. She called him NAIL and poked him in his antenna, and then Lucas followed suit.

 We found a trail that was right behind our campsite. It led to a GIANORMOUS douglas fir tree. Very cool. The kids liked that hike. It was short. Perfect for them. We found many banana slugs along the way, but thankfully they didn't touch them.