Backwoods adventure

Okay, maybe not so much the backwoods, given that we could get to a McDonald's in 7 minutes, but the kids had fall break, so we decided to go camping. Jacob and David camp pretty frequently with Cub Scouts, and the girls felt like they were missing out on something. We kept it low key -- this was really more "camping lite." We stayed close to home, with the idea that if it started to go poorly, we could just jump in the car and drive home without even breaking down camp; we got there pretty late in the day (just enough time to set up camp and take a short hike before it was time to start dinner); and we limited the fun to one night. The kids loved every minute of it!

We didn't get there until close to 4:00, so we David started out by setting up the tent.



Kids scoping out map:



Hey kids, how do you like the tent?



After we set everything up, we went for a hike by the lake. The leaves have just started to turn around here ever so slightly, and it was really pretty.


Jacob & Elizabeth with their walking sticks, ready to go:



J ponders the meaning of life, or schemes of ways to get his latest coveted item, a 362 piece first aid kit ("But mom! It has 15 one-time-use thermometers!"), before Christmas:



E & C disregarding our admonition not to get their feet wet:



E climbing the mountain:



Gang hiking:



Kids hiking; abuse of walking sticks begins:



C&E pause to poke around in the water:



E goes fake fishing:



Reeling it in:



It started to get dark, so we headed back to the campsite to start a fire.

Roasting hot dogs:



After hot dogs we toasted marshmallows and made s'mores. Then David read Harry Potter around the fire and we went to bed. I'm pretty sure I was out before 9:00.

We survived the night.



And the kids and I headed back down to the lake in the morning while David broke down camp (wasn't that helpful of us?)



This was definitely a successful introduction to camping for us. I have a hard time visualizing us doing this for more than one night anytime soon, but the kids felt like it was a big adventure, and we all had a really great time.