O.K., so it was nearing the end of our two weeks with daddy being gone and so far so good. We managed to keep REALLY busy. Well, Nate just happened to mention to me that he wanted to go camping, and without much thought I said, "O.K., I'll bet we can go tomorrow night or Saturday night, when dad is home." Well, that just got Nate so excited, I mean it has been awhile since he's been camping (ummm like probably around Memorial Day weekend). So, I just happened to mention this to an unnamed person, who must've thought I was crazy to consider going in this heat, and who replied, something like, "it is so HOT, but go ahead and take them if you want to".... of course somehow, I took this statement as a challenge and decided immediately that we would go camping.... after all, it cools down at night........................ (I later realized in July, this is not an accurate thought)! So boys, I'm admitting it here on this blog, I do have a stubborn streak!
Anyway, as I thought about it, I decided I wanted to take them car camping at the lake, I mean easy right..... throw everything in the car and just go..... only 20 minutes from the house so if it turned out to be a disaster, we could come home! So Friday morning I told the boys of my plan and we headed out to Daisy State Park to pick out our site...... because I just knew a tent site would be hard to come by! So we went out there and picked out our spot, made our reservation, and came home and packed. Since it was a mere 95ish degrees (like 103 heat index) we decided to wait until 3:30 to head out there and since there is a burn ban, we picked up subway to take with us for dinner. Well we arrived and I am proud to report that this mama set up 2 tents all by herself! Yes, I did learn some very helpful things about setting up and breaking camp from my husband back in our Yellowstone days!
After establishing camp we spent the rest of the afternoon/evening swimming in the lake (well, actually I read a book while cooling my feet in the water).
That evening we went to the Interpretive Program on Owls (yes we were the only 4 there.... sure it had to do with the blazing temps.... even at 7:00)! Then we came back to camp and made smores over the charcoal grill and went down to the lake for one last swim!
After getting dressed in our jammies (O.K. shorts), brushing teeth, and each taking our dose of Benadryl, I put the boys to bed. As I stuck them in their cozy little tents, I realized it was probably 5 degrees hotter in the tent than outside which was still in the 90s I'm sure! So I told them that I knew it was hot and we could either (1) Go home to the airconditioning or (2) not complain and not move around and go to sleep! Somehow those precious little urchins went right to sleep! Me on the other hand began to realize that we are the only people in this state park in a tent and the only ones on this loop. So I did question my sanity as sweat was pouring down my back and it did cross my mind to say an extra prayer that this woman and her 3 children would stay safe! Anyway, we all slept! I did wake up numerous times lying in a puddle of sweat.... but somehow, I went back to sleep (it was the Benadryl)!
The next morning we were all up at 6:30! The boys played Candy Land while I starting taking down camp; ate powdered donuts for breakfast; and anxiously awaited our little hike to the visitor center to take the "pet snake" the frogs they had caught the night before!
The rest of the morning was spent swimming in the lake from 8:30 until 11:30! It was a wonderful camping trip.... in spite of the heat. When I asked the boys if they'd had fun, they said "yes" and none of them mentioned the heat! I would do it again in a heartbeat to make special memories with my 3 men! Your mommy sure loves you boys! AND if you can't tell from the pictures, we had a blast... only thing that would've made it better would've been daddy and High's in the 70s!
