Camping...

About a month ago, we went camping with a bunch of other families from our church.  We went to a campsite called Cresap Bay, which is about one hour north of where we live.  It was a pretty nice campground...it was really woodsy, the bathrooms were relatively clean, and there was running water close to each campsite.

As is normally our luck when we go camping, it started raining!  So the first thing we did was setup the tent--in the rain.

Eliana wanted to help hammer the stakes into the ground.

Once we had the tent set up, it didn't have as much rain inside of it as we feared.  It was easy to mop up and then the kids settled right in.  Eliana, our little nester, enjoyed setting up her sleeping area.

Gabriel had fun zipping the windows shut and open, and shut and open...  We like this Coleman tent a lot because it's ginormous.  Maybe 12' by 14'.

Because it was raining, we had to stay under the awning.  We were afraid we would have to be cooped up all weekend if the rain kept up!

Thankfully, after a while, the rain died down so we had lunch.  Then the girls wanted to ride their bikes.  They rode and rode and rode.  They got lots of exercise that weekend.

And then after that, we went down in to a reservoir lake which had a beach area.  It was nice because this area is blocked off from boats and is reserved just for swimmers--or waders in the case of Karina.

Gabriel also was not keen on getting into the water.  He did enjoy standing on top of rocks and also throwing rocks into the water to make a big splash!

That night, we had a communal dinner with the other families.  We brought something simple--watermelon.  This one other family brought beef ribs and mushrooms stuffed with blue cheese and wrapped with bacon!  It was the most yummy camp food I've ever had.

That night, we were afraid that Gabriel wouldn't sleep very well.  Ironically he slept the whole night and it was Eliana that kept waking up multiple times!  Here is Gabey waking up all cheerful!

Before breakfast, the kids came out of the tent to explore what was going on.

Gabriel enjoyed a breakfast of hard boiled egg.

And they are back on their bikes!

It turns out that almost all the kids in the families brought their bikes as well.  So they all rode around the campgrounds like a giant pack of animals.

The family we were sharing a campsite with had a 3 gallon jug of water with a spout you can twist "on" and "off".  Throughout the weekend, this was one of Gabriel's favorite activities...to fill up a cup or bowl of water, stir it around (and maybe add a few leaves in the process), dump it out, and repeat!

We also went hiking a little bit.  Gabriel was a trooper and walked most of the way instead of being carried.  Eventually, though, he got tired and wanted Elvin to carry him.  It was also close to nap time and he fell asleep in Elvin's arms--which was convenient because we didn't know exactly how to get him down for a nap.

After lunch, we went down to the beach area again when the sun came out.

Gabriel enjoyed digging in the sand.  This is the first time that he was willing to walk on sand.  Every single time we've gone to the beach before, he would refuse to have sand touch his feet and he would stay on a towel only.

Eliana, our amphibian child, stayed in the water the entire time.  Except when she needed to come out to re-fuel.

For dinner, we had a communal meal again.  But we made mac-n-cheese for the kids to make sure they would have something they liked.  Gabriel got to stir...

And then it was time for bed again...

The sun rose at about 6am, but Gabey was still sleeping...

In fact, all of our kids slept fairly late, considering the day before, they woke up with the sunrise.  They were very tired and even birds chirping and crows cawing did not wake them...

Then it was time to take down our tent and pack up!

The kids are eating our last breakfast while camping and then we headed home after that!  It was nice that we only had to drive one hour home, which gave us the rest of the day to unpack and clean up from camping.

A few days later, Eliana drew a picture.  It turns out that she drew about our camping experience, with our lantern inside our red Coleman tent, surrounded by the trees and night sky.