Our FIRST Camping Trip!

We were determined to go camping on Thursday to Friday, since the kids were so excited, and we didn't want to disappoint them. We originally were going to go to a campground that was only about 30 miles away from us, but the lake flooded the tent campsites and closed it. So at the last min we had to choose another campsite. We decided to go to "Lewis and Clark State Park" in Iowa. It was only 1 hour drive away and was absolutely wonderful. Yes the river was flooded, but we were able to get a great campsite, and it had all the modern facilities.

Well, here we are on our very first camping trip. Will and I weren't sure how the kids would react to camping, but after it was all said and done, and we were back home showered and clean, the kids were very concerned and asked Will where the tent was at. He looked at the kids puzzled and said "Well, we threw it away at the campground cause you kids didn't like camping."
You would have thought we just killed their best friend or told them they would never eat again in their little lives. They all just about dies because they were so mad at us for throwing away the tent. Will assured them after MUCH calming down that we didn't really throw away the tent, and that we would be going again really soon. All the tears and upset feelings were gone within seconds of that announcement.


Here is our cute little campsite. Actually it was HUGE!!

This is a picture from our tent looking across the street. The kids were in heaven with this great playground that they could run back and forth from. Will and I loved it, since we could see them at all times, and not have to yell at them "We can't see you!"Here is our Huge tent set up. It took us a while to set it up, since the winds were about 45-50 mph the entire night. It was raining and super windy all night, but none of us cared. The tent it survived, and so did we. When we were setting it up, we had to do it essentially twice, since it went blowing away half set up like a kite due to the winds.
Because of the high winds, our fire had lots of problems getting started. We finally found something to act as a wind break, and Will was such a sport to hold this lid the entire time the kids roasted hotdogs and marshmallows. What a man!!The kids loved roasting the dogs and mellows, but hated the wind with the smoke in their eyes. We took our kids friend Mailei with us. She had a blast with the kids as well. I think all together the kids ate 14 hotdogs between them, and I think 90% of the dogs were still cold in the middle. They couldn't quite understand that even if its hot outside to the touch the inside is still "frozen". (I had frozen them before going.) But in the end they didn't care. It was a novelty roasting and eating their own hotdogs.
Sabrina was proud of her concoction. She made a "Cheeto Dog". This is so cute of her.

Here was what we found the next morning due to the high winds and rains overnight. This was the site across from us. They had tornado warnings all night. But we have found that living here in Omaha that if you wait to do anything till there are no tornado warnings, you will be at home all night long every night for basically all of June and all of July. So we just are careful.Here was breakfast in the morning. We had a great time. We had scrambled eggs, pancakes and sausage. It was so much fun, and I loved every min of it. It reminded me of my camping trips when I was little. I now know both ends of the camping experience. Once as a little kid, and now as an adult. I love it!! And finally here was the car ride home. They all looked like this after the first ten min in the car ride home. They had all run around all day and night, and had a fun filled two days. It was a great time and all the kids are looking forward to doing it again really soon.