First camping trip. (15w2d)

The five amigos embrace Mother Nature.
(Okay, they didn't all embrace the woods is the bathroom thing.)

I'm writing this way late. We went camping over a week ago and I'm just now getting around to blahging about it.

We decided last Saturday night that we were going to take the kids for their first camping trip on Sunday. Jason was ecstatic and it was so cute. Teagan had slept here the night before and I was actually glad because we would have never had the idea to take she and Cameron along had she not been here. And they truly were a great addition to the trip. But I'm getting ahead of myself.

I'd also offered to keep Sulli the night before (one of those what the hell was I thinking moments) when Kelly called looking for a last minute babysitter. The kids and Teagan and I weren't doing anything so I offered. And it was relatively uneventful except that I'd forgotten how curious 10-month-olds are ... especially if you have one that truly has no interest in crawling and desperately wants to walk. It's a recipe for disaster. She fell down so many times I lost count. We had one instance of bleeding gums, one instance of a kid dropping her (Teagan felt awful and I think was really relieved when I blew it off and explained that accidents happen -- thankfully Sulli wasn't hurt) and a very long instance of incessant crying. But amidst all of that, we managed to get a ton of stuff packed, the kids dressed and us off a whole hour ahead of schedule. We had one stop -- to pick up Cam -- and we were off.

We got to Chicot much earlier than anticipated and started unloading immediately once we settled on our campground for the trip. Jason and I set up the tent while (and here's where Cam and Tea proved themselves to be invaluable) our children were led into the woods by the older two to collect kindling for the campfire. Our children and into the woods. Two phrases I would have never thought would end up together in the same sentence. Thank God for older kids who are deemed very, very cool.

The night was nice. We went fishing very briefly (I got freaked out that the twins had hooks on their poles and it was windy), cooked dinner, ate and got the campfire going. We roasted marshmallows, made s'mores, and told ghost stories. Well, some of us told stories. Hayes's "story" seemed to repeat the same line over and over ... "and the NEXT day ..."; Mary Beth had no idea what she was talking about; and Sam's story seemed to go on for days. It's a toss-up between Hayes and Sam as to whose was the longest and/or the most boring. But it was hysterical and I only felt a little guilty for laughing at (not with) my own kids.

We were in bed for 7:30 PM. Turns out there's not too much to do after dark in the woods. And asleep about an hour later. The kids mostly slept like rocks. And Jason and I tossed and turned all night long. Lucky for J, he had all four sides to flip around to. I was without a tummy side as an option, which totally sucked. We've already decided that we're taking an air mattress next time.

We had planned on staying another night, but bad weather came through so we packed up in the morning and headed home. We didn't have nearly enough time to do everything I wanted to. But that's okay ... we had enough fun that we're planning on going back in two weeks after the auction! Hopefully Jason's schedule will work out.

Here's some pictures from the trip:

The kiddos share a moment. Sam looks enthralled, no?

How could I forget about the drama of the lost tooth? Teagan came running up to me with blood gushing out of her mouth screaming, "Pull it out! Just get it out!" As a loose tooth virgin, I had no idea what I was doing and as I gave a quick tug, I panicked. Jason saved the day. And the Tooth Fairy was out of dollar bills. So a fiver it was. Teagan was gobsmacked the next morning ... it was so cute! And we were so excited to play the elusive TF!