Campout

Yesterday we went camping with Sam's brother, his wife, and their little one year old. I forgot my camera so I don't have any pictures but here were the highlights:

• Finding a campsite!!! After driving through many sites that were full we finally found one with an open space to set up our tent. Extra bonus--it was FREE! (so what if it was because there was no pavement & no fire pit (which meant no fires for us), no bathroom, no outhouse, and no picnic table. We were just glad that our 2 hours of driving wasn't in vain.
• Convincing Rachel that peeing in the woods is FUN! Although we all chipped in on describing just how fun it is to pee in the woods...this one goes all to Sam. After many attempts I was getting no cooperation from Rachel and was ready to drive her to a nearby campsite that we had seen actually had bathrooms. Sam would not have it. Not sure how he did it-but not only did she finally go --but she came back telling us just how cool she thought it was.
• Finding a picnic table. After much persuasion the guys finally let us go check out the area by a nearby lake in the hopes that there might be picnic tables available. JACKPOT! Great idea Heidi :-) We probably could have managed with out it, but having somewhere to set everything while we Barbequed sure was nice...not to mention the additional perks of a little bit of concrete when camping with a one year old.
• Finding an out house. Despite the enthusiasm Heidi and I displayed for Rachel about peeing outside, we could not actually bring ourselves to do it.
• Seeing the guys put out a fire they started in the trashcan--way to go eagle scouts! :-)
• In their defence I will also mention that they made us some delicious dinner, which included some cans of beans that were opened without the can opener none of us even thought to bring.
• Skipping rocks on the lake...and watching Rachel trip and go head first into the lake. She didn't fall all the way in, we were on the "beach" of the lake so just the front of her shirt got wet. This was obviously not a highlight for her--but we helped her to laugh about it a little.
• Waking up to the rising sun, eating an awesome breakfast...and then realizing that it was only 6:30 am.

Next time we will be sure to bring: soap, can opener, a flashlight, some sort of mattress to sleep on (our air mattress had a hole in it and so we brought just a blanket to put underneath us-pretty uncomfortable let me tell ya), more changes of clothes for the kids, more warm clothing..like an actual jacket (when it is 100 degrees when you are packing it is hard to bring a jacket and a beanie--but both would have been helpful). Did I forget anything Heidi?

PS we had a blast -thanks for coming with us...and bringing all the food...and the tent...and the only flashlight. :-) It's a bummer that neither one of us brought a camera..but at least we were all there together so we can share memories from this campout .