We just got back from our first trip of the season. It was an absolute blast. I am totally a city person at heart, don't you dare take away my amenities, but I absolutely love camping. We all pitched in packing, getting ready, setting up and tearing down camp. We hiked, we saw cool bugs and it was amazing. We also learned quite a few things for next time. We brought plenty of gear, food, and personal items, but a couple of the kids brought a whole menagerie of stuffed animals. Next time, limit one blanket, pillow, and teddy per kid. Also, some of the kids had run out of clean clothes before the last day. I really need to emphasize to the kids that they need one outfit per day, plus one. This should help us cut down on the number of bags we took.

Also, another thing that we could improve was meal times. The kids do much better when we tell them, "sit down, eat your ___, this is your ___." Freeform snacking just led to hungry and cranky kids. It helps a lot if we plan a menu with the kids well in advance and make sure we bring food they would actually eat.

We had an absolutely wonderful cooler. Kept our ice and food cool for all three days, even though you would think the black color would heat it up a bit faster. Someday, I'd love to buy a mini fridge to keep at the campsite, but I think that's a ways off.

One thing I wish we would have brought with us was the pavilion. A friend of ours has lent us their pavilion to use for family events and I know we would have gotten a lot of use out of it at the campsite. Right when we had arrived and were setting up the first things, it started to rain. I was really worried it was going to rain a lot. Luckily, it stopped after only 20 minutes, but the inside front of the tent got a little wet. The pavilion would have been great for that.

We used a hexagonal tent that I think is meant for 4, but we squeezed into it. We do have a much larger tent, but it has a rip in it. Before we go next time, we need to set it up and see what's wrong and how hard it would be to fix. I'd love to get a tent with 3 sleeping rooms and a central room, but that's probably a ways off, too.

Of course, Chuck's cooking was amazing as ever. He can make a fantastic meal out of anything. He brought a ton of spices, plenty of utensil and his cast iron pans. It was great. We also brought the coffee pot, yes, and electric coffee machine, and made coffee with it.

We let the kids bring their phones, in the hopes that they would take photos. Well, Owen learned how to edit a video so it looked like his sister said yes to his question, when she had really said no. Chuck and I talked about it, and while we want the kids to take pictures, we didn't want them to take videos, so we are going to buy some disposable cameras and give those to the kids.

We hiked on a couple of different trails. One went in a loop, essentially, and it was quite the hike. The trail that led to Turtle Lake wasn't too bad, though. And we discovered we could cross a road, go behind the rentable shelter and hike another two minutes and end up at a playground.

One thing that we really struggled with, though, was firewood. There was virtually none to be found around the campsite. It was Memorial Day last weekend, after all. And we didn't have a tool that was very effective at cutting larger logs. We had a tiny saw, not sure what it was meant for, but it wasn't wood. And we had a machete. The machete could sort of chop through the wood, but it wasn't very effective and it sent wood chips everywhere. Chuck ran out and bought a bag of match-light charcoal, which helped some, but once it had burned down, the few logs we had burned down, and the food just didn't cook very well. We did find a huge pile of cut wood behind a barrier, but it wasn't until later that we asked one of the park rangers if that was free for the taking or claimed. Now we know we can grab some of that and use it. It's very obvious that having the right tool for the right job is so important.

We also have decided to invest in some outdoor games and toys. The kids were bored at a couple of different points, and I saw that another family had brought a bean bag toss set. We made a quick list of some of the things we could get to bring to the campsite. We had brought two bags of board games, but I really was not in the mood to play any.

I'm so glad that we brought all of our own toiletries as well. When we started the weekend, there were two bottles of hand soap in the ladies' room. By the end, there were zero, and there's no way they just ran out. Baby wipes were super useful. I'm pretty sure every kid needed a shower at one point or another. And the ladies' room only had a hand dryer, so our towels from home were great. I wish we had brought a rope of some kind to make a clothesline, though. Quincy got wet and muddy a few times, and a clothesline (and maybe even some laundry soap) could have been very helpful. As it was, the couple of hangers that I brought were used quite a bit. One thing that would have been nice, though, was an extra plastic ziplock bag or a soapbox for our bar of soap. Once the first kid took a shower, it was wet, and it stuck to things in the toiletries bag. Or, even better, some liquid soap, just for the weekend.

Speaking of clothesline, Chuck had brought a book of knots and some paracord, but we never found the time to teach the kids anything. Next time, we'll schedule outdoor survival lessons somewhere in the day, not only to teach the kids the knots, but also some basic first aid, how to start a fire, how the compass works, all that good stuff. Chuck was in boy scouts for quite a while; he's very knowledgeable.

While we really liked the location we had, once we had packed up everything and were ready to leave, we scouted around the campgrounds a bit. We found an even better spot for next time, #12. It was close enough to the bathrooms to be convenient but not so close that everyone would be passing our campsite on the way to it. We really liked having a site with electricity available to us in the form of our own fuse box with two outlets set right in.

We're thinking of getting a hatchet, saw or some other kind of wood tools from Sheels or some other "camping store." This is all very new to me. When Chuck mentioned going to a camping store, I asked him what that was. He smiled and said, "Well, there's Scheels" and I laughed. I think I've been in there once, and it was for a pokemon thing. But if we do end up going there for a couple of tools, I want to look at the tents. We could price a larger tent or a couple of smaller ones to get an idea of what we might want. We also need a few more stakes, for things like camping chairs and tables. We do have a spool of galvanized steel wire, Chuck thinks he can make simple stakes out of that.

Every person also had what we are affectionately calling a "memorable moment"

Quincy's was when he jumped, both feet, into a small, muddy stream and lost a shoe to it. It took the older kids 10 minutes of scrounging in that mud to find it. He was then banned from that little stream.

Kallista's moment was when we were leaving Turtle Lake, in quite a hurry, because had to pee, but unfortunately had an accident right in the bathroom stall. We got back to camp and she was able to get cleaned up.

My moment was when we were hiking. We were on an unfamiliar trail, and the pdf of the park I had downloaded was not giving us the information I needed to make directional decisions. Of course, I was completely forgetting that I was literally wearing a compass around my neck.

Owen's moment was when we were on said unfamiliar trail when he told us he needed to use the bathroom. Ok, go in the woods, I said. Nope. He had to poop. Well, we walked as far as we could, before he couldn't go any further. So he pooped in the woods. Yep.

Chuck's was attempting to light a campfire hot enough to cook on with only wet logs. Part of this was lack of tools, as mentioned, and part (I think) was his hubris. He really thought he could get it dry enough to cook on. It wasn't until we were coming back from the playground that we got any real amount of dry firewood.

And Charlette. Poor dear cut herself with a tiny saw while trying to carve into a small branch. The kids had discovered that they could do decorative patterns with the tools that we did have, and she cut her finger. It wasn't deep at all, but it was enough to scare her. This was after we had all discussed each person's memorable moment, and remarked at how Charlette didn't have one. Once she was clean and bandaged, I gently told her that she finally had her moment. She was less than enthused that it was a wound, but it was memorable nonetheless.

I had a beautiful time, hanging out with my family in the woods, and I can't wait to do it again.

4:44 P.M. - 06.02.19