Finally ... finally ... they got their wish. Last weekend, Steve took the girls camping to Sleepy Hollow (a state campground a mere 15 minutes from our house). Jack and I stayed home, as I knew that Jack was not quite ready for it -- ok, maybe it was me who did not feel like chasing Jack around as he crawled through all of the dirt toward the burning hot fire pit in the middle of the camping site every 2.5 seconds. Next year will be better for him, when he can actually walk and follow directions a little more).
As soon as Steve arrived home from work on Friday, he began loading up the truck. We were unsure whether the three of them would head out that night or wait until early Saturday morning, but they finally opted to go that night. It worked out pretty well.
They slept in a tent on two air mattresses in their sleeping bags. The girls shared one mattress, and Steve had the other. The restrooms were not too far away and they had a picnic table in their camping site to fix food and eat at. They packed enough food for each of their meals, along with a few things to keep them busy.
(Almost all of the pictures were taken using Steve's phone, as I had to rely on him to document the special event. And it was definitely special -- Sam kept telling me, and anyone that would listen, that it was their "very first camping trip ever" in a very high-pitched voice!).
Friday night, right after they got everything set up:
Steve was worried about being able to keep them occupied the whole time that they were there. The girls have a tendency to want to be doing something every single second of every single day. They aren't really at an age where they enjoy just sitting and enjoying nature, obviously.
So, they spent some time down at the beach:
Blowing up balloon:
And making slime:
They had also packed their bikes, so they were able to ride them around the campground and down to the park.
Late Saturday afternoon, Jack and I headed up to the campground to spend a little time with them. Jack pushed his walker around for a while (and I spent every 2.5 seconds, as predicted above, steering him away from the fire pit).
While we were there, Steve and the girls roasted hot dogs (Jack had already eaten at home):
Sophia wanted to show me the inside of their tent and where they were sleeping:
And then we headed down to the park so that the kids could burn off a little more energy:
Yup, Jack got tuckered out after a while:
That night, Sophia was asleep by 7 pm in the tent; missing her nap and staying up late the night before had taken its toll on her. She missed out a little bit on our neighbors that had stopped by to surprise the girls. But that was ok. She had had enough excitement to last her for a good while.
Right after breakfast the next morning (Sunday), Steve and the girls packed up and headed home. They arrived back in our driveway by 9:30 am -- dirty as can be. Everyone stripped down and hopped in the bath/shower to clean up before unloading the truck.
It was a day of cleaning, laundry and re-organizing. Lots of it.
Later that afternoon, Steve thought that it would be a good idea to let Sam skip her regular afternoon nap. We have been needing to wean her from them as she will be starting school next week and attending 1st grade ALL DAY. I told him that I thought that she really could use a little rest that day in particular (to catch up), but he insisted on letting her stay up all afternoon.
By 4 pm (the time that Sophia gets up), Sophia went looking for her sister and found her in the driveway. Like this ...
She was out cold. Exhausted.
I asked Steve to bring her inside (and out of the sun), so he laid her on the couch. Within minutes, the two of them were both sleeping.
Camping can be a lot of fun, but it can also be a lot of work!
No comments:
Post a Comment