We took our first more-than-one-night camping trip! All four kids joined us, so one could say it was pretty crazy, but we also had a LOT of fun! I'm doing my level best to record everything that happened...but some things may slip my mind. Tons happened!
We got a late-afternoon start, due to some fun planning and a photo shoot I got to do for some friends of the family. We didn't get to leave until after 6, heading to a place we knew was an hour and a half away. We planned to stop for dinner on the way, so knew we'd get to the campsite fairly late. It ended up being VERY late - after 9! The place we chose to stop at was not somewhere I'd go again if I was in a rush. We were at this truck stop for a little over an hour - yikes! Nonetheless, we made it to Devil's Lake. The sun had set and we left the headlights on in order to assemble the tent. The kids we left in the car, since we had mini nightmares of losing a kid in the dark. Aaron and I did remarkably well putting up the tent in mostly darkness. We took a moment to pat ourselves on the back. Then we released the kids, put bedding and stuff in the tent, lit the lantern, and let them run around in it's light for a while. Bedtime was pretty lax, we really just wanted the kids worn out so they wouldn't put up a fight - and it paid off!
In the morning, we got everyone's bathroom trip taken care of and fed them. (That was our biggest 'oops' of the trips - we somehow forgot our griddle. So the pancake mix was useless. Good thing we had extra gogurts, fruit and granola bars!) I pulled out a variety of snacks and the kids got to make their own trailmix bags. We loaded up into the car and drove to where we wanted to hike. It's a .7 mile trail called Parfrey's Glen. (Interesting note of the day: a glen is a narrow valley, gorge or ravine. For some reason, I always envisioned 'glen' as a meadow.)
Parfrey's Glen has a waterfall at the end of it, so we thought it'd be the most interesting for the kids. Unfortunately, the end was further than we could go. After watching the trail go from paved path to gravel path to dirt road, we forded the creek a couple of times and had to call it quits when the trail zig-zagged across the creek several more times before making hikers climb some boulders. I'm sure it would have been neat, but we just couldn't do it. Even without the finale, glen was a beautiful and picturesque place to be!
Carson must have had his animals mixed up. Here he was digging like a gopher into the trunk of a tree. He sure loves being silly!
Here, Aaron had taken Cole across on his shoulders, then supervised Evie's crossing. He then came back for Carson, leaving Cole in Evie's care, while I helped Lizzie across and carried our bags. This was how the other crossing went, as well as the return trip. Tiresome way to travel! :)
This was as deep in the glen as we got all together. The kids sat around on the rocks and ate the trailmix they'd made. It wasn't until after we left that we saw the sign saying 'no food or drinks'. Luckily, we were very clean hikers and took it all out with us again. (Okay, with the exception of a couple scattered peanuts from Carson's bag.)
Aaron tried scouting ahead (you can just see him heading out of the top of the picture below). What he didn't know was that the girls headed after him. He couldn't hear them over the babble of the creek and I thought he knew. Thank goodness they didn't get out of my sight! Lizzie had a scary moment, though, when she got left behind by Evie. Lizzie slipped a little on a wet rock (no worries; this was neither a fast nor deep part of the creek) and got her feet wet. She was more upset than hurt and wanted me to come save her. I was torn between leaving the boys alone near water or going to her. I ended up halfway between them, one eye on the boys, encouraging Lizzie to be brave and take her time. Poor girl made it back, needed some snuggling, and said she didn't want to be on this adventure anymore, could we please go back to the tent? I laughed a little and told her that in order to get back, we had to go back along the hike.
Seriously, what is there not to love about a picture like this? I would go back for family pictures if I thought Lizzie could handle it!
Walking back, nearly back to the car, we happened upon this rabbit. I hurried and put on my longer lens and tip-toed as close as I dared while Aaron held back and shushed the kids. I was still about 3 yards away with this shot, but was surprised he let me get that close!
Back at the tent, we had ourselves another snack, then the kids and I played some bocce ball while Aaron tried to get Cole down for a nap.
Evie took over the camera so she could take a picture of me. Yep, I was there!
Cole still had a hard time taking a nap, so I decided to take the older three to the camp playground. I figured they could run off some steam (they still had steam after that hike?!) without startling Cole awake better that way. Unfortunately, the park outing was cut short when Carson got stung by what we think was a hornet. Poor boy's ear swelled up and looked like a little bite was taken out of the back of it. I had our first aid kit in the van and there was a helpful parent there with his own kids. He helped to calm Carson while I got sting relief and ice, then chatted with Carson to help cheer him up. This other dad even went and found the hornet's nest and knocked it down while I found a park ranger to finish taking care of it. Made for an adventurous day at the park!
When the big kids and I got back to the campsite, we found Aaron hard at work. He'd found a large stick, perfect for a walking stick. He put his knife to work whittling away the bark and some handle. Nothing fancy, but it kept his hands busy and he was happy doing it.
When Cole woke up from his nap, we fed the kids lunch, made sure they got a lot of water, and went to the lake. For the most part of three hours, Cole and I played in the shallowest water, Evie and Aaron played just deep enough for Evie to swim, and Carson and Lizzie played in the area between us parents. It was a very hot day and the water was pleasantly warm. There were tons of minnows in the water and the kids were fascinated by them! We loved that there's a ban on motorized vehicles on the lake, so there were no loud noises and no choppy waves.
We finally dragged the kids away from the water. We had to, since Aaron and I were both definitely burned and worried that the kids might be, too. It was too early to start dinner, which was going to be hotdogs followed by dutch oven dump cake, so we decided to take a drive. I brilliantly thought of going to visit Baraboo Hills Campground, where my family will be joining us in a few weeks for the R family reunion - that way I could do some recon and get back to them! We were surprised that it was only a 10 minute drive from Devil's Lake, so went ahead with it. Driving through Baraboo, we decided to ditch our camp dinner plans in favor of a pizza buffet at Pizza Hut after I'd seen the campground. We were pretty pleased with the campground - it looks like it will be a lot of fun!
At Pizza Hut, we realized that we forgot to grab shoes for Cole, Carson OR Lizzie, so we crossed our fingers that they'd let us eat anyway. Luckily, the kids passed inspection (or were below inspection?) because we all got to eat our fill. It's always interesting to eat out with our whole family, but buffets are particularly adventurous. Aaron and I are never sure how much we're going to get to eat between trips for all the kids. As we were nearing the end of our meal, our waitress brought another (very needed) pitcher of water and told us that 'the kind gentleman in the cowboy hat who just left' had paid our family's bill. We were stunned! And grateful. It's such a blessing, even when we feel like we have enough, when someone anonymously does something for our family. I hope we can pay it forward to someone else someitme.
At camp, we started a fire and, instead of the dump cake dessert, let the kids roast marshmallows instead. It's what they prefer, anyway. Aaron and Evie took a little walk and I calmed Lizzie and Carson down and helped them get to sleep. Cole had fallen asleep on the drive back from Baraboo, so we let him sleep and prayed he'd stay that way. Then Evie, Aaron and I stayed up a little longer, enjoying the campfire and eachother's company. Evie gathered rocks from the parking pad and made a little mosaic on the table. I messed around with camera settings some more - it's a pretty fun pastime for me! Aaron and I chatted while I took pictures. We moved Cole carefully to the tent and sleep came so easily.
We all slept fairly well. Since Cole had fallen asleep around 7:30, he was up with the birds. We had brought the tablet, so I turned on a baby app for him and let him go to town on it. It was so peaceful, him playing quietly on the tablet while everyone slept around us.
As they woke up one by one, Aaron went out to make some pancakes (we'd picked up a camp-gear-dedicated pan on our way home from Baraboo) and the kids and I rolled up sleeping bags, gathered laundry, and tidied up. I got started on mine and Aaron's breakfast - a spectacular Dutch oven sausage-potato-onion hash that totally ended up being worth the 45 min wait - then we let the kids eat. We packed up the car, then let the kids run around a bit while Aaron and I ate our breakfast. Once we did a walk-around and made sure we'd left the site better that we'd found it, we loaded up for one last hike before heading home. That didn't end up working out. We got turned around, the kids were tired and whiney, and Aaron and I were sunburned, so after only 20 minutes of walking the trail, we headed back to the car. Evie had a fun moment of wearing Daddy's Packers hat, and she really wanted me to take a picture of the sparkly leaves, so look closely for the sparkles.
All the kids slept again on the drive back home while I read to a driving Aaron. It was a great success after last weeks' early-out because of the mosquitoes! And we ended up getting a year pass, since it's for all Wisconsin's state parks through the end of the year. We're sure to go up again at least once. As successful as it was, we were all very happy to be home, clean and cool again at the end of the day.
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