Camping Part Deux

Part two.... for our family. Here is some more info about my kids specifically.

After a 40 minute ride in our friend's jam-packed Honda Pilot (2 adults, 4 kids and all our junk), we arrived at Gifford-Pinchot. Luckily, for once, I packed light!

With the humidity, we were glad to get into the lake. Nat kept saying "fatha, fatha" until we were in water as high as her chin. She has been daring in the water lately. Of course, she could be daring because she had already checked with daddy to make sure there were no alligators there =) ...oh, and if there were monsters in the woods.

Little Jules enjoyed herself in the shallow waters, but kept sticking her fingers in the water and then sucking on them. Ugh! I was keeping my fingers crossed that we wouldn't end up with some intestinal issues later that night.

The girls (with my assistance) did their first teeter-totter and we swung on the swings. While I was pushing Nat, Jules was chillin' nearby like a good little girl.... like usual. All of a sudden she stood up and took a step all on her own! I was pretty excited.

When we decided to head to the campsite, I took both girls into the showers and with some fairly adept manuevering, we shimmied out of our soaking wet suits, lathered, washed and rinsed (with some may say "cold", I say, "refreshing' water), dried and dressed without anyone touching the inherently creepy floors, walls, or fixtures! Yeah!

My responsibility was to bring the firewood and I was therefore the default choice for firestarter. I brought newspaper and a lint filled paper egg carton and it started like a dream. Too little kindling though and we were soon on the way to get some more wood. Oh, well, over all, we got our schmarshmallows, hot dogs and foil dinners cooked, albeit a little late.

Nat and Jules were little angels the entire day. Nat sat in her Dora chair and Jules sat patiently on a blanket while I worked on the fire, etc. At the lake, I left Nat with the group of moms while I got her a snack. She never left the exact spot I left her at on the blanket. They were so so good.

Late in the night, Nat finally got the gumption up to ask to go play with some of the other kids. Miss Cheryl held her hand and took her over to little Kylee who took over the hand-holding responsibilities and off they skipped. I was happy for Natty. To Cheryl's surprise (and mine too), Nat even asked for a turn with the flashlight!

Later, Natty comes to me and says, "you know that boy, Kaitlyn's boy?" "Yeah, her brother?" "Yeah, he talked to me! ... I think he likes me." I said, "yeah, I think he does, you're a nice girl." She was also saying bye to some of the little girls she met for the first time, was chit-chatting with Kaitlyn, and was so excited to be in Miss Chrissy's car. I was very happy for her. (She's pretty shy.)

Oh! and Julsie wolfed down one whole hot dog. Natty had TWO! ... and she loves s'mores, just without the marshmallow and graham cracker!