memorial day camping trip!

we went camping this weekend. all 8 of us. 2 nights. 1 tent. LOTS of clothes and blankets and food. it took EVERY spare minute of 2 1/2 days to prepare for it. we were gone less than 48 hours.

for the first time, i tried this method of packing for the kids. i bought HUGE ziplocs. and had all their clothes for each day in 1 bag, i.e. an outfit for rebekah, an outfit for joshua, an outfit for bailey, etc. i got this idea from my friend, jenn.

this was especially good for camping. it kept the clothes that were for day 2 clean until day 2!

setting up. we made the kids help us instead of running off to play. not to be mean, but for them to understand what it entails.

we spent a LOT of time by the fire. it was windy and COLD (into the 30's at night - without the wind chill!)

for the first night/day there was 1 other family with us. they have gone to this campground for memorial day for YEARS and asked us along this year. she yelled, "who wants marshmallows?" :-) they went running!

remember how lincoln hates being cold? he still hates it. i think it was pretty miserable for him. but he made it. we had NO idea it would be so freezing memorial day weekend! it's usually HOT!

they have 7 kids - this is the youngest. he liked his marshmallow :-)

bridget with 2 of her girls.

good morning! everyone in our family slept WELL! both nights! this was HUGE for me. it kind of makes or breaks the day. i have sleep issues. so this is what i did to ensure i got as good a night of sleep as possible: took a melatonin before i went to bed (which i do EVERY night of my life) and used my iphone with 1 earphone in my ear "playing" an app that made a "fan" noise. that way i could hear my kids if i needed to, but the fan noise blocked out all the crazy "nature" noises. it worked like a dream!!

i LOVED waking up and having our entire family there in 1 tent. it was a pretty amazing thing!

we were in charge of breakfast saturday morning. we made eggs and bacon and had fruit and muffins.

after breakfast we went on an AWESOME hike that went to some waterfalls.

pat and jason

the goetz family

our family. i don't know what's up with levi's tongue. lincoln is not happy.

i love how she marked her stick so no one else would take it :-)

we got back from the hike, ate lunch, the other family arrived and then went to a beach area on a lake. there were a MILLION tadpoles!

after dinner, everyone except pat and i went to bed. we enjoyed some time by the fire, just the 2 of us.

sunday morning breakfast after another cold night...

bridget and i

we packed up and headed home after breakfast. the other 2 families stayed through dinner sunday night. we just wanted time at home together.

we truly enjoyed our camping trip!