Camping!

During our amazing trip to Seaside with our friends the Pietzolds the four of us had discussed our desire to brave ahead and attempt a camping trip with our three young children. I had kinda only half believed it would happen, but when Lisa e-mailed me last week and said "Hey we REALLY want to go camping, wanna go THIS WEEKEND?", I got so excited I could barely contain myself!

DAY ONE

We were concerned about getting a camp site, so Lisa and I decided to take the three kids (Zac almost 2, Katey 7 mo, and Ty 3 mo) up two days ahead of the boys to reserve a site.

We had to take the majority of the gear because we would not only be setting up the camp, but we would be there two days before the boys and had to have EVERYTHING for the kids (any mom know what I mean but EVERYTHING for the kids!).

This is Lisa's van BEFORE we put in another sleeping bag, sleeping pad, baby backpack and bouncer!

The kids were all ready for their morning nap by the time we took off, and were VERY ready to eat by the time we got there...yay the joys of traveling with babies :)

Our first view of our camp ground and Timothy lake!

Now I have to pause a moment here and share with you what a great and amazing blessing it was that we even got a camp site. We pulled into the THIRD camp ground on Timothy lake, after going through the other with no luck and beginning to despair as to whether we even get a site, only to get the LAST site available in that whole campground!

We got their five mins to 12 and the previous tenants had to decide if they were leaving or staying another night by noon. God is SOOO good! We were able to pay the camp hosts immediately and go hang out down at the water until the other tenets were out (2 hours later).
But not only did God provide A camp site, He provided the perfect one! It was next to only the hosts (who were protected by their camper) and day use only sites, so we didn't worry when the babies cried and we didn't have to deal with the late night singing/partying that we could still hear (faintly) from the other end of the camp ground!

So while we waited for our site to open we went down and had our lunch and some of us played in the lake!

We had a lot of fun but it is a little overwhelming when you have three kids and two adults. Lisa and I got pretty good at juggling babies, binkies and blankets and taking turns enjoying a few mins in the water.

Zac and Lisa swimming :)

There are not any pictures of the rest of that first afternoon because when we got to our campsite around 2pm we had to then set up the tents, get the babies nursed (a few times), Zac fed and bathed, us dinner and a million other things done (while tired cranky babies that aren't used to their surroundings just wanted to be held). It's a bit of an understatement to say that it was a long afternoon.

But, that night we were pleasantly surprised by our husbands coming up to spend the evening with us even though they had to be up early for work the next day. They arrived around 8 pm and were able to stay until around 11. We really appreciated not being alone in the camp site after dark and by bed time Lisa and I were both so exhausted that we didn't have energy to be afraid :)

DAY TWO

Day two started out crisp and clear but after at least a few hours of sleep, Lisa and I woke up excited about the day and ready for a fun day of camping & playing in the lake!

The Knapp tent

Katey's early morning smile! I love it!

Lisa and Ty coming out of their "little" tent :)

Good morning Pietzolds!

Ty was so cute all swaddled in his blanket in the Bumbo.

Him and Katey kept each other company while Lisa and I got breakfast going.

Zac was very excited about his applesauce!

When I went down by the lake that morning I could hardly breath because of how pretty it was. This picture doesn't do it justice, it was one of the most peaceful, beautiful sites I've ever seen.

After breakfast we decided to attempt a hike/walk.

We had very high hopes...

And were ready for a good long walk...

But with the stroller not doing too well on the path, and some cranky tired babies were were more than ok when Tracy called when we were only about 1/2 mile away and said she was at our camp site. It was a good excuse to turn around, put the babies down for a nap, get some lunch and try again later. This time with 3 adults and 3 1/2 babies (baby Cary was definitely there too).

While Katey napped

Zac did what any 2 year old boy would do...


He LOVED the dirt!

...he also loved to sit in his little tent and read books & play with his toys

He was quite the little helper, making sure that his mommy and I put the tent together correctly.


And getting water. I don't know what we would have done without him :)

We were so excited to have Tracy come up for the day to visit!

We just can't wait till next year when there will be another little boy to play in the dirt with Zac!

Ty's gorgeous smiles :)

After Katey woke up we all went down to the lake for another swim! (Tracy had her camera at this point and took some really great pics that I just have to figure out how to get from her!)



The babies were so cute! Ty was fussy but as soon as I put Katey next to him (she had been swimming so was all wrapped up in her towel), he just sat there and SMILED at her and forgot he was upset :)

That evenign was exciting because finally the boys were there for the long haul. They arrived around 6:45 and we had steak, corn-on-the-cob and pasta salads for dinner!

Being a boy and playing hard resulted in a VERY dirty little Zac so every night he got to sit in the wash basin and get a bath before bed time.

After Dinner was done , the babies were in bed, and it was dark outside Jeremy wanted to go Crawdad fishing and I wanted to go swimming!



It was such a gorgeous night!


I had never seen or eaten crawdads before,

But Jeremy truly loved the ugly little things...

and convinced us they weren't that bad. We boiled them and ate them with Johnny's seasoning salt and butter! Yum! We finally got done with that (and semores) around midnight and fell into bed exhausted from another glorious day of camping!

DAY THREE

Day three (Saturday) was defiantly the funnest day of the whole weekend, mainly because our families were whole (our husbands were there!)

We started out with some early morning swim time (after an awesome pancake and bacon breakfast of course!)

It was fun to be able to swim as a family and trade off baby duty on the beach :).

The Pietzolds lazing in the sun!

And us taking our turn on the shore to watch the babies and bask in the warmth !

Katey just LOVED rolling all over the blankets and would have rolled much farther if we hadn't repositioned her every two mins. She is quite the little mobile Bug now!

After swimming and lunch we decided to try the hiking adventure again, this time with the guys carrying the heavy babies and no strollers :)


Katey and Daddy


Jeremy and Zac

Of course we had to go find some geo-caches!

It was a GORGEOUS hike right along the lake shore in the cool shade of the trees.

A little over half way to the second cache Ty insisted on eating, so Lisa took a seat at the side of the road...

And the five of us continued on to retrieve the prize and return.

Katey just loved the high vantage point she had from the backpack and was wide eyed and curious the whole trip!

The boys and babies after their great discovery! It was an especially hard cache to find but they did it!

The hike was so much fun and we came across this picture perfect moment and had to grab it :)

The Pietzold Family

The Knapp Family

And there the pictures end, but our memories don't. There is just something about camping that puts life in perspective. Maybe its the abundance of God's natural creation, or the simplicity of being away from the fast-pace suburban life, or the lack of distractions. I'm not really sure. But I do know that this weekend will remain with me for a long time and I believe I will look back on it as a highlight of my life. A time where family, friends and God were all very close to me and I was at peace.