Trying Again...

...for my "The S's Go Camping" post that got erased yesterday. I will check the auto-save more today. Fo' sho'.

So anyhoo, we went camping as a family for the first time this weekend. I've camped a ton in my Colorado childhood and even Jason and Easton went camping last summer...but I've never camped with Jason and certainly never as a family.

It was time to put an end to that. But with the kids being the ages they are (having an infant) we opted to rent a cabin instead of trying a tent.


We knew we'd have bunk beds and "some" electrical. Bathrooms were a short walk away. We were pleasantly suprised with what we found:


In fact, we briefly discussed trying to book a second night but realized Jason had to be at work and we didn't bring enough food and all that.

Easton was thrilled to see a top bunk for himself:


Dalton, not so much.


The campground was pretty nice (and crowded). We had neighbors in cabins and tents and yurts everywhere we looked but it was okay. This little tiny hut was on the way to the bathrooms:


After we got ourselves settled in we headed to a spot called "Panorama Point" or something like that.


This is pretty much what we saw:


Made a perfect backdrop for a shot of Jason and his offspring:


While the boys and I opted for a nearby rock:


Then we asked some lady to take a picture of all of us. I put my camera on "Auto" for her but didn't turn on the LCD. I guess she didn't know how to use a viewfinder anymore:

Tee hee!

We set off for some more exploring and found a fun tree with a "saddle" trunk. Made for some adorable shots of our boys:




They were so happy to be out in the woods:






Dalton a.k.a. "Master Yoda" picked up a cane like Yoda:


And the boys did a little light saber dueling with their sticks:


I took a picture of a pretty wild flower:


And an even prettier girl:


Jason introduced her to tree-hugging:


And the boys began making tacos with wood and dirt:


Must mean it was getting to be time to eat! We headed back to our camp and the men made fire:



At the very last second before leaving town I remembered we'd need a place to put Autumn on occasion so we threw the umbrella stroller in the car. I'm so very glad we did:


Once the fire was going I got to work on dinner.


The boys enjoyed a fire-grilled cheese sandwich:


And Jason and I used a friend's suggestion of "walking tacos". I'd heard of them as party food but didn't think of them as a camping recipe. It's basically putting taco toppings over individual bags of corn or tortilla chips. So fun!


Miss Miss enjoyed a few Cheerios from the comfort of her stroller:


Before long it was time for s'mores:


Easton's a fan:


Dalton's not:


I put Autumn to bed easily and we hung out with the boys awhile longer. We'd brought them some fun glowsticks and they played with those. Dalton eventually asked to go to bed. I got him ready and in bed so quietly but Autumn still woke up and wouldn't go back down. :( So she went out to play glowsticks with Easton (she loved them!) while Diddles fell asleep.

Then we got E to bed. Then tried Autumn again. As I was swaying with her, Dalton fell out of his bottom bunk. :( I rushed TumTums out to Jason and went to put crying-but-not-fully-awake Dalton back in his little bed. And I rigged up something so he couldn't fall out again. Poor guy.

Finally Autumn and I went to bed. She was in the Pack and Play. I was in the bottom bunk and Jason was up top. We had the space heater running most of the night--largely for the white noise--because it was toasty in there! I had to turn it off for a bit because the kids were on the verge of overheating.

But the outdoors was chilly the next morning. The boys are in 2 pairs of p.j.'s, fleece jackets, and their knit hats.


Autumn was keeping toasty warm too:


We brought her entire Pack and Play out so she could be a little more mobile than in her stroller:


Easton entertained her with a game of peek-a-boo:


Dalton entertained himself with Elmo fetch:


And eventually they climbed in with Sister to keep "be company" as Didds would say:


Jason made coffee and I made pancakes. We forgot the hash browns. Oops. But breakfast was yummy:


Even the wildlife wanted some. We weren't sure if it was Chip or Dale, though:


Not too long after breakfast we packed up and headed out. We went home a different way so that we could stop in Boulder for lunch. We knew the Boulderites wouldn't mind our non-showered, campfirey smell. :)

We stopped at Boulder Falls to show the boys but it was closed.


After lunch we came home and I started on the mounds of laundry from our one night away.

I'd definitely say our first family "camping" trip was a success and we're looking forward to doing it again.