Taidnapam!

This year has been two big firsts for our family... Our first trip without any friends or relatives AND our first CAMPING trip without friends or relatives.  I must say that while I love having the company and the extra people to watch my kiddos it is also REALLY nice to just have it be us.  We were able to do whatever we wanted to do, when we wanted to.  Without any expectation about getting up early, going to bed late etc.  All self-inflicted of course.  We allowed the kids some more freedom than usual this trip.  The park was behind the sites across from us so we actually let the kids go on their own, the big kids did a great job keeping an eye on Carson (they were within ear shot and a quick walk away).  They were also allowed to ride around the loop on their bike.  It made me a little nervous but they are such good kids that I know they'll follow all the rules with cars and such.  I was so proud of them, they made sure to stop and check in whenever they were going to switch activities!

SMORES!  After the first one Carson actually decided he preferred to eat the ingredients separately.  He enjoyed roasting marshmallows but not eating roasted marshmallows...

Carson got tired of riding his bike before we got to the lake so Daddy took over.  He got going down a hill so fast we all thought he was going to crash!  Fortunately he made it down in one piece.

There were a few half-burnt logs lying around so we chopped them up to burn them properly.  The kids had a great time hacking at them with the hatchet.

Our kids LOVE board games and card games.  They pick up on them really quickly and follow the rules so it's actually enjoyable to play.  It's a little tough with Carson because he just wants to hold all the cards but he and I won anyway!

Don't worry Kayda is farther from Carson with that hatchet than it appears.

We decided to do an experiment.  We gathered all kind of things from nature, feathers, leaves, dried leaves, moss, pine cones, pine needles etc and tested how well they burned.  Then we used the things that burned best to start our next fire.  The kids had a BLAST testing everything.  (Feathers burn surprisingly well, must be the natural oils from the bird).  It's very different starting a fire with moss and such, it's a mush slower more delicate process.  We discovered we had to get the moss going then slowly keep feeding it more before putting any larger pieces of wood in.  Unlike with newspaper where you make your log cabin and watch it go to work.  We've decided starting fires with things they can find will be a new tradition.

The kids put on a "Night creatures play" for us.  Dillon and Carson were fruit bats, Kayda was an owl.  The neighboring campers (an older couple) got quite a kick out of it!

The boys are hanging upside down, since they're bats.

Kayda is enamored with slap-jack.  Of course we had to play out in the sunshine.  Carson loved flipping the cards over.

It was a great trip!  We're looking for more quick trips we can take too.