Our First Family Camping Trip

We had our first family camping trip this weekend since Nicolas was born and we had so much fun. I was worried how Adison would cope but she was fine, it was Nicolas who had a bit of trouble adjusting. Jaden and Kirsten were wonderful on Friday morning and looked after Nicolas for me as I got everything packed up.

We had packed as little as possible, and we took Adam's truck too with the bikes, but poor Leo still only had room to sit and not lie down in the back of the truck. I don't know what we'll do when we eventually have to get rid of the truck.
The kids were so excited and so was I by the time we set off at 3pm. Adam had to work until later so we set off without him.

I got a bit stressed to start with in case I'd chosen a bad site, but in spite of the short walk to the site from where we parked, I managed to get the camp set up by the time Adam arrived.
We were on the bend of a river and about 12 feet from a little sandy beach were the river was really shallow. It was the perfect site except that it was like camping in a giant sand pit! Nicolas thought he was in heaven and was filthy within minutes of arriving, and I just banned the kids from going in the tents except for bed. We managed to keep most of the sand out of the tents and Nicolas just spent the weekend very mucky with sand in his diaper - not a nice experience I'm sure!
When Adam arrived he cooked hot dogs and chilli, with assistance from the kids, and then he made sure I'd set up the camp properly. He spent a lot of time camping as a child so he is the expert. I remember amazing camping trips with Mom and Dad when Will was doing Moto-X but I'm sure Mom will remember them as her own personal hell. We had perfect weather this weekend which made it easy, but I'm sure it must have rained when we camped, but I don't think children remember those things. I do remember Mom was never as excited to be camping as we were!
After dinner Adam had to do the most important thing - light the fire for Jaden and Kirsten to toast marshmallows on. I think we could have lit a fire in the back yard and let them toast marshmallows and they would have been as happy! Nicolas was exhausted from the excitement of the day and I thought by 8pm, when it was dark, I could lay him down and he'd go to sleep, but I was wrong. He has never slept out of a crib or travel cot, so the concept of just sleeping in a tent was very strange to him. I snuggled up next to him and sang to him and he just lay there with his eyes wide open looking around for about 20 minutes. Obviously he thought we had lost our minds to make him sleep outside! I eventually gave up and he snuggled with me by the fire and by about 10pm he was falling asleep and we could lie him down. I don't know what I'd do if I had to llie down with him each night to get him to sleep, which is what Adam says he used to go through with Jaden when he was little.
He did look very cute and I enjoyed having him snuggle up to me, which he rarely does. We had worried how Adison would behave but because she slept in her pram, which she had slept in at night until a couple of weeks ago, she was her usual easygoing wonderful little self.

The kids were in heaven eating charred marshmallows and putting things in the fire to burn and by about 10:30pm we were all ready for bed. There were lots of people camping around us but everyone was pretty quiet and didn't bother us. I never sleep very well camping because I hear every noise the kids make and worry if they are too hot or too cold.
Friday night was no exception. It was about 1am and I'd convinced myself everyone was fine and I drifted off to sleep only to be woken by Jaden sitting bolt upright in his sleeping bag and shouting something in his sleep. This woke Nicolas up who had no clue where he was and so he had to come and sleep between Adam and me so he wouldn't keep calling for me and wake Adison. He was actually quite easy to sleep next too as he didn't wiggle too much but it certainly wasn't a good night's sleep.
Kirsten didn't look as if she'd had a good night's sleep in the morning either!
Adison was the only one of us who seemed well rested as she only woke once in the night to feed.

Inspite of the sleep deprivation we had a yummy greasy camp breakfast of bacon, egg and cheese sandwiches and we went to explore Dahlonegah. It is in the north Georgia mountains and very touristy. We had no money to buy anything big, but Adam treated us to some fudge which was very good.
Then we drove to a state park nearby to visit a waterfall.
Nicolas had the best view of the trail.
The waterfalls were really high and we could have walk 400 steps to the top but none of us really felt like it.
Leo came everywhere with us so he was just in heaven!

Adison loved walking through the trees. She is very alert and just stares at everything.

When we got back the kids wanted Adam to take them fishing. Adam didn't think there was any fish in the river so he decided to try out the waders his friend had lent him, and practice his fly fishing (or at least I think that was what he was doing)
The waders were very 'attractive' and we all had a good laugh at Adam in them!

It was so sweet watching Kirsten helping Adam get dressed.
Jaden is old enough now to appreciate when Adam looks silly, and Adam really did look silly, but it kept his legs warm and dry.

The final accessory was a vest with all kinds of fishing things hanging off it.
While Adam and the kids went fishing Nicolas was napping in the truck and Adison was cooing next to me in her pram. She loved looking at the leaves above the campsite and seemed very content the whole weekend.
When Nicolas got up I put him in a very strange, but practical outfit. It was a bit too cool to have a t-shirt on and he needed shorts and if I put him in his sandals the sand would rub his feet, so here is the outfit we came up with! He was so happy playing by the river in the sand.

Later in the afternoon Adam took the kids round the camp to explore. Nicolas loves his trailer, but it won't fit him and Adison's car seat, so until she can sit up, they won't both fit in it for me to take them on bike rides.
There was a swing set for the kids and they made some new friends playing there and Adam got to hold Adison while he watched them.
She spent the whole weekend wearing a pink rabbit outfit of Nicole's. I felt so bad not changing her clothes, but she was clean and warm, so there seemed no point.
Nicolas on the other hand was grimy the whole time. His favorite thing was to dig in the dirt where the truck was parked or lie on his front and make "dirt angels" instead of snow angels.

We had a much better nights sleep on Saturday night after toasting more marshmallows and going to bed at 9pm. Nicolas went to sleep easily, partly because he was exhausted and slept by himself all night. Jaden didn't yell out and so we all woke up feeling much better on Sunday morning.

We had breakfast and it was pretty windy so we packed up the campsite and headed home after the kids had played for a bit in the morning. The best part of the whole weekend was having a shower when we got home! I'd never have made it as a pioneer women, I need to be clean!
I put all the kids in the bath for the first time when we got home so I could unpack eveything. Nicolas has bathed with either Jaden or Kirsten before, but never both of them together, so he thought it was amazing. They were a bit squashed in the bath though!
Adam unpacked all the bikes and camping gear while I got the first of 4 loads of laundry done and by about 4pm it was as if we had never left. I am ready to go camping again this weekend as we had so much fun, and I want to camp as much as we can before it gets really cold. It was definately a fun weekend.