Camping

After being gone for a week with the kids, I came home to sleep one night in my own bed and then woke Friday morning and suggested a camping trip. We spent Friday morning gathering our gear and preparing for a night of slumber in the woods with the kids.

We went to Little Bennett campground not far from our house. There was practically no one camping on Friday so it was nice and quiet, perfect for the kids to ride their bikes and not worry about cars coming by every few minutes; we may have only seen half-dozen cars the entire time we were there on Friday. I picked a spot near the play equipment to help entertain the kids and the site beside us was being inhabited by two boys, ages 6 & 7. The kids were in heaven! They enjoyed playing with the other boys so much we rarely saw them.



Three empty little chairs....no one to enjoy the fire, well except for Chase and me.



Lillee would come and go, she's a loner sometimes and prefers to find a nice mud puddle to sit in and dig in the dirt with sticks and rocks. She entertained herself jumping from this tree stump.

Or sitting quietly in the tree while snakcing on a banana.


But she found true joy when she caught a frog. She was so proud of herself and I was truly amazed at how gentle she was holding the little guy. It was instinctual for her....maybe she'll be our little scientist.

Lillee is a princess and loves pink and purple anything, wearing fru-fru dresses and having her nails polished but she's also completely at home with dirt under he nails (as you can see in this picture)....she is definitely a complex child.

But the real excitement of the whole trip was not caught in a picture....

The kids went to bed well (they were exhausted from all the play) so Al and I took advantage of the quiet time and played some cards. We did not last long, we were also exhausted so we snuggled down and tried to get comfortable...we forgot pillows. Al did not sleep well, I was cold as I went to bed with wet hair so we both tossed and turned a lot. At one point Al took the sleeping bag he was lying on and put it on me so I could warm up...what a sweetheart! I was finally sleeping well when I heard Al saying in a very concerned voice, "Amanda, wake up RIGHT NOW! Amanda, you need to wake up RIGHT NOW! AMANDA!!!!"

I pulled myself out of sleep shocked by Al's tone of voice until I saw what was causing the tone. A spider....not just any spider, this was the biggest and meanest spider I had ever seen. His legs covered about 4 inches of space and his butt was the size of the tip of my thumb (and I don't have dainty hands). His eyes were large enough that I could see a reflection of the flashlight in them.

(We think this spider is like the one in our tent, it is a variety of wolf spider)

Al had heard a noise and placed his hand against the tent to lean in a bit to listen and that was when the spider jumped onto Al's hand. FREAKED HIM OUT!!! I would have been screaming to the tops of my lungs! He stayed calm until we had to usher the spider from the tent. Every time the spider would twitch a leg Al and I would jump....that spider was UGLY. We did manage to get him outside without a heart attack from either one of us but sleep did not come easily after that adventure.

The best part of the camping trip....

OFF! has a new clip on bug repellent. No sprays, lotions or funny smells. You clip this on your waistband, turn it on and NO bugs. I was reluctant at first, but man it really worked! It was perfect for me as I was holding the baby a lot and did not want him smeared in bug stuff with DEET.

When we woke Saturday, we broke camp and headed to a nearby lake for some fishing. Connor was the only one with the patience for fishing and since I had to care for the baby I could not help out much...I was bummed as I really love fishing and miss fishing, a LOT. Al caught 3 fish with Connor before we had to give up and leave. The heat and humidity were unbearable and the girls were pretty bored.

We had an awesome time together and look forward to camping again soon....minus the really nasty spider :)