Going Camping with the Family

DD and Big guy making a game

Wow,  I can now really appreciate now how much work must have gone into planning a two week out of province trip with three children that my parents did now that I have tried camping (real camping) with my children for the first time.
We decided to take a trip to a nearby provincial park over the August long weekend. With 4 adults, 2 pre-teens (tweens?) and 3 little ones under 5, we sure had our hands full!
I'm not sure how it happened, but we all survived the trip out ("are we there yet?" didn't drive the driver too batty), setting up all the tents, and the POURING rain we had that soaked us to the bones on our last night. Finding out the tent leaks is definitely not the best way to end the trip, but I'm sure glad the rain waited until our last night.
We got to spend some time in the water, and playing in the sand.

Petit Monsieur playing with his smurf in the river we built

I'm sure we had enough food to feed an army, and even with all that planning and lists galore, we still wound up forgetting a few things.
My favorite part about camping is sitting up long into the night next to a warm fire, looking up at the stars and listening to all the wildlife that I can't hear in the city. It is so relaxing, worth all the stress from during the day. I think DD's favorite part was getting to swim in the lake so much.

Although I am exhausted after only 3 nights and 4 days, I am trying to make this a yearly event between the 2 families that went this time.Who knows, maybe over the years there will be another family or 2 that also join in on the fun.

Happy Camping!