First Family Camping Trip

Well, we decided that this year, we were finally ready to go camping with the boys (ages 2 1/2 and 4 1/2).  Colin and I haven't been camping for 7 years (the last time we camped was the summer before we moved to Australia).  So, after setting up the tent in the backyard to play in and telling Max and Finn all about camping, they were SO excited for their first camping adventure.  

We went to a beautiful ranch in Steamboat Springs with 2 of our neighbor families.  We had a blast during all of the waking hours (the "sleeping" hours were another story, but we'll get to that later).  We played on the beach at the pond...

 Finn still never tires of throwing rocks in water

  

After throwing rocks in the pond, the boys headed to the river (to throw more rocks)...

 

Max got brave and crossed the river with the help of our friend Gen...

This was, by far, Finn's favorite part of camping - he played in here for many hours...

We had tacos in a bag for dinner, followed by s'mores and glow sticks - what kids wouldn't love it?!?  We had a 2 year old, three 3 year olds, a 4 year old and a 5 year old.

The next morning, we were back to the river...

And then off on a hike before packing up and heading back home...

Yes, we camped for only one night.  And THANK GOODNESS!!!  Finn decided he did not want to sleep, and so for an hour after everyone went to bed (from about 10:30-11:30pm), he hopped around in the tent like a bunny while we all tried to ignore him (using the theory that he'd get bored and go to sleep).  When that didn't work, he wrestled with Colin and eventually screamed himself to sleep.  He woke up shortly after that and refused to sleep anywhere besides directly on top of me.  So, I spent the rest of the night flat on my back with Finn flat on his tummy, sleeping on my chest.  In a tent.  With no air mattress to sleep on.  Did I mention he's 32 pounds?  And snored like a chainsaw the entire night?  If I'm being generous, I'd say I got about a total of 2 hours of sleep.

Needless to say, for the rest of this summer, we'll be enjoying the outdoors on DAY trips.  Wish us better luck next year!