Memorial Day weekend camping trip, part two

Well, the search was on to find the camera and we did, yes we rolled it up in our tent. My car keys and Joe's phone and wallet were also left in there. I thought Joe had removed that stuff and he thought I had. So Joe went out and unrolled the tent and found the camera so now I get to tell you all about out trip.

WE HAD A BLAST!!!!!
The kids loved camping.
We went to Detroit lake which is about 40 miles east of Salem, the drive took over three hours down because of all the memorial day weekend traffic and the rain.

Yes it rained. So setting up the tents was miserable. We tried to get the kids to stay in the van, but after a 3 hour drive they wanted out, so we set up our canopy for them to stay under to keep out of the rain, and set up their camp chairs there too, but they did not want to stay under it. So they kept wandering around while we were trudging through the mud and rain to get the camp set up so we would have somewhere to sleep. Trenton and Jennedy seemed miserable and freezing,but would not stay where they could keep warm. Jennedy was crying and saying she was cold and wanted to cuddle. So at one point I grabbed the frozen little girl and cuddled her up in my lap in the van. We sat there for a while and she said "Mom, I love camping" So even though I thought she was miserable she was so happy and loved being there. That made the torture of setting up tents in the rain bearable.
After we got the tent and the air mattresses blown up, we brought in the sleeping bags and had the kids crawl in them, to defrost. We had a propane heater we brought so we started that up and in no time we had a warm tent and warm kids, by this time it was around 9 pm so we decided to just all go to sleep. Everyone was tired and it was pouring rain, so the kids went to sleep, I read a book by flashlight until 11pm and Joe sat by the heater and dried our shoes. The kids slept through the night that first night so that was wonderful. In the morning we were wet, the rain had started falling inside the tent where the rain flap touched the tent, or a kid, or blanket would touch the tent, the water would come through. We started breakfast in the rain, but it slowly stopped and the day was dry. The next day was dry and there was even some sun on both days.


Our friends, The Conners, showed up around 9 on the second day and the fun really began. We played games, roasted hot dogs and marshmallows through out the next two days. The kids collected lots of feathers and liked rubbing them on their faces because "they were so soft." The adults were grossed out by this but the kids loved it.
We walked over the the lake several times and the kids collected feathers, and threw rocks, it was too cold to swim, but the kids did not stop begging to go in the water the whole trip.Jerika wore flip flops as often as she could, I would catch her wearing them and ask her to put her shoes on, since it was cold, but she was determined to stay in them, so finally I gave up and decided if she was cold enough she would change. She never once complained.(well at least not about being cold.) She and her friend Cole, reveled in the drama they and others created at the play structure, they would come to us and complain, until we finally realized it was enjoyable for them, the drama, and stopped fretting.

Trenton had a bag of Chips with him at most times, he loved the freedom he had camping, eating what, where, and when he wanted and playing where and when he wanted, he only got lost once, and that was very brief. His older sisters made sure to keep track of him too.Joe and his best friend Micheal, worked hard setting up tents and hanging a giant tarp over the camp, they also had fun playing games and making fires.The kids played in the campgrounds play structure. I planned our location based on where the play area was and so we were right next to it. The kids played there constantly and made many friends. We had a little girl, Gabriel who was 5, who practically moved into our campsite, she was always there, meals, games, deserts, into the night. The kids loved her and her parents were right next door and liked having her over at our place.
On our last day there it rained again, starting in the night. So in the morning we were happy that the men had put up the giant tarp. We spent time under there eating and playing games. The kids still took umbrellas out and played, they would come back when they got cold. We had set up a kids tent, for them to play in so they would have a place of their own and not mess up our sleeping tents. The whole time they played games in there and even had friends over to "their place"

We had such a terrific time, even though it rained, the kids cant stop talking about all the fun and adventures we had. It is actually worth all the work that goes into getting ready, set up, and the enormous clean up, because they will remember it forever, and so will I.