Camping

Mark and I loved camping in college, and finally our kids are a great age to enjoy a night out beneath the stars. We've gone twice this summer, once by ourselves, and once with this Backwoods Bunch.

 The Mighty Meyerpeters. 

 The Kumbya Kanarys.

 The Grizzly Gunkels.

 And Camp Connelly.

The kids were involved in every aspect of camp life, like setting up the tents.

 The Connellys can't camp without our giant bubbles.

They're a big hit with the kids.

 We blazed the trails together, usually with Jack and Gryffin taking the lead.

 These boys kept that wet wood on fire.

 And the girls relaxed with a game of cards.

 There was red-neck golf, frisbee-flinging...

 ... loads of amazing food & s'mores ...

 ... and some Kubb, a Scandinavian-themed gift before our big trip to Sweden.

At night, we traced the constellations and huddled round the fire with the kids, singing songs and passing the flashlight for ghost stories. There was a bit of screaming at bedtime, when Lorelei got stung by a bee in her sleeping bag.  But it was a few hours later that the adults got in trouble by the nice park ranger for being a wee bit too raucous and loud.

This bunch?  Never.

Earlier this summer in June, we took the kids by ourselves for a campout with just our family.

Here are the pics:

 After this night hike, we had dozens of ticks covering our bodies.

Not so pleasant.

 But happy trails, we sure do love a good campout!