Saturday, September 12, 2009

"Camping for Amateurs!"







Yes, we've had the camper for 5 months now and I think we are really getting the hang of it!

We are getting to know some of the campgrounds in Alabama. We have stayed at Point Mallard Campground in Decatur, Oak Mountain State Park in Pelham, and our last trip was to Clear Creek Campground in Bankhead National Forest located on Smith Lake in Winston County.

Thursday after lunch, Mom, Dad, Huett, and Sam left out in Dad's 12 passenger van pulling the pop-up camper behind. Ava had gymnastics that afternoon, so we didn't get to the campsite until around 7 o'clock. Still enough daylight to see how beautiful our campsite was.

We had a lovely spot facing the lake. And, close enough to the playground so that the kids could go play and we could watch from our "yard". And right behind our camper, across the road was the bath house. 2 very important elements to ensuring a fun experience with preschoolers...close proxemity to bath house and playground!

That night we got the fire going, and after nightfall me and mom took Huett, Ava, and Sam to the bath house for showers...no small feat! While we were waiting turns, we found 2 small frogs on the sidewalk hopping around...they kept trying to touch them, and Ava was sad because her frog kept hopping away and wouldn't let her touch him.

Mom decided to bring along a microwave this time. We haven't mastered any great camp-out meals yet. We are still munching on snacks and eating sandwiches most of the time. The kids ate sausage and biscuits that we warmed up in the microwave for breakfast. The great advantage to having the microwave this time was that I was able to use bottled water and heat Archer's bottles up in the microwave. I know it says not to heat bottles in the microwave, but we were "roughing" it! Its a good thing we had this option, because the bathrooms there didn't have any warm water from the sink!

Friday morning it was overcast, but it felt good outside. We took an "adventure" walk along the bank of the lake to see what we could find. We found 1 flip flop, 2 kitchen forks, 1 kitchen spoon, 1 butter knife, a persimmon tree, the boat ramp, and a poster that showed us every kind of snake in the area. It was fun!

Me and Mom then decided to take the kids around the campground...I was pushing Archer in his stroller, Ava was riding her bike, and Huett and Sam were cruising around on their PowerWheels Gator. I am so proud of how well Ava is riding her bike these days! She has really taken to it. During our little excursion it starts to rain...at first, just sprinkles...then full blown downpour! We just let the kids keep playing since they were already wet, and we got stuff ready for lunch.

We had sandwiches for lunch, and got the kids dried off and in some dry clothes to watch a movie and take a nap. I didn't think the rain was ever going to stop! But, when we woke up from our naps the sun was shining.

We had been telling the kids that we probably wouldn't be able to go swimming because the weather was too yucky and the wind was too cool, but since the sun came out we changed our minds. We drove over to the "beach" and they had a blast. Me, Mom, and Archer just watched from the shore.

Me and Dad decided to take the kids back to the campground via the bike trail. Mom drove the van back around, and we took the 1 mile trail through the woods. It was paved, so I was able to keep Archer with us. It wasn't too bad until Sam decided he wanted to ride on the stroller too, and then about 10 minutes later Ava decides she is tired and she wants to ride too! Normally I let 2 of them ride on the step, but 80 pounds of kid plus 18 pounds of baby is too much to push up, down, and around! So, I expelled everyone except Archer from the stroller...they were going to have to toughen up! I felt bad when we got back to the camper and Sam had 2 blisters...what kind of aunt am I?

Anyway, to end this camping adventure...I helped Mom get Huett, Ava, and Sam ready for bed and then me and Archer headed home because I had to work the next day.

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