Camping as a Family of Five

This past week, I was watching the weather forecast and saw that we were going to have a winter heat wave...high friday was suppose to be close to 80 degrees. I also have been watching lately to see if the burn ban will stay lifted and upon hearing that the weather was going to be nice and the burn ban was still off, I jumped at the chance to take our family camping! Shawn gave the okay so we began the planning on Thursday. By Friday morning we had a lot of the car loaded down and after taking Elle to school, the rest of us headed out to our friends land to prepare everything so we wouldn't have to do it as the sun was going down. We also invited our friends, the Valdez's to come along...they'd never been tent camping before! We put up our tents, cleared some ground area, set up the fire pit, and cut some wood. I even got to try using a chain saw...which I loved! I'm sure I wouldn't love doing it for hours and hours, but I really had fun cutting wood for the fire. Then we headed back into town to buy the supplies we needed for food. After picking Elle up from school and getting Levi up from his nap, we headed back out for our first camping experience with three kids! The night was wonderful. It was cool but not too cold, the fire was hot, the kids did great, the hotdogs were perfect and the smore's were just right. We went on a night hike down to the river and the kids of course loved it. Around 9 Levi started acting super tired so I took him into the tent and sang Jesus Loves Me and laid him down and that was it. I really couldn't believe it. He turned right over and closed his eyes. He acted like we were in his room doing his nightly routine. I clomped back out of the tent, making too much noise, and zipping up the super loud zipper and still nothing from Levi. I was shocked! The other kiddos were still out by the fire making lots of noise and talking to loud but not a single noise from my baby. He takes after his daddy when it comes to sleep :) We hung out for a while longer and all headed to bed around 10:30. The girls cuddled right down with no problems at all, and we all went to sleep. I slept better than I've ever slept camping out!!! Sure I woke up a few times with outside noises and from the cold I was feeling every time some piece of my skin came in contact with the air in our tent, but otherwise slept SO GOOD! I finally really woke up around 7, which is unheard of for me when camping! Ava woke up around the same time, and I HAD to wake the other three up around 7:15...all of them were still sound asleep! Again, astonished! I checked a thermometer we had in the tent and it read a nice chilly 49 degrees in the tent! It was hard to get out of the sleeping bag and the only thing making it worth it was knowing there was a fire going just a few feet outside the tent! We all got dressed and headed to the fire to defrost. For breakfast we had the best breakfast tacos ever. So simple and yet so good. The kids again did great with the food. Israel and the kids went back down to the river while Shawn, me and Valerie cleaned up, packed up, and watched the babies (who are almost 2 by the way!) Then we headed home for a day filled with all kinds of projects and things needing to be done! I keep wondering what exactly made this camping experience different than others...I think maybe it can be summed up in one word; simplicity. Everything was done simply. Nothing too elaborate and very little worrying over small details. The company was great too! I can only hope the burn ban stays off through May so we can go at least one and hopefully two more times!

Me and Valerie--2 peas in a pod

Enjoying the fire
Well good morning bright eyes! Fresh from the tent :)

Women and children trying to stay warm the next morning

Cuddling with my baby...he kept wanting down and then he'd move away from the fire and start shivering and crying and I'd have to go pick him up and bring him close to the fire again.

Elle and Daddy having morning coffee--note to self--get a coffee pot for camping soon....

Ava and I enjoying our morning hot chocolate/coffee mix.

Peeking

Tent, Sweet Tent

Buddies--2 weeks apart in age and can't wait to watch them grow up together!

Israel with the "fish" he caught

All of us together! What a great memory :)