Camping Trip

A couple weekends ago, we headed to Lake Allatoona with Mim and Papa. This was our first camping trip with kids... and definitely the first with a baby in tow! One tiny little being requires a heck of a lot of equipment. Jeff had to go to Fayetteville the day before the trip, so I had to pack up for a 3 day 2 night camping trip for 5 and load up the van... solo. Well, solo would have been much easier. Instead, I did it with three kiddos. Truthfully, the boys ended up being a big help, as I my pregnant self couldn't pick up some of the bags and things. They worked together to haul the heavy items to the van for me. What gentleman.

We brought the Pack and Play and set it up in the tent with us. The boys had a small tent for themselves. At first, they were a little nervous to be sleeping in a tent without a grown up, but they were up gabbing all night long and up at 5:00am romping in the woods together, so I guess they got over any fears they may have had.

Mim and Papa's campsite was on one side of ours and Will, Lucas & Caleb's site was on the other. This made for a perfect situation for two boys. They hopped back and forth between the sites... hanging out with whomever had the most action and food. Needless to say, Will, Caleb & Lucas won hands down. They went fishing, gathered fire wood, and reveled in the glory of boyhood. One night, I after Ivey and I went to bed, Jeff went down to the lake to see what the boys and Will's boys were up to. They were doing some late night fishing... and ended up staying so late that both Asa and Addison fell fast asleep right there in their chairs.

Mim and Papa brought the boat, and the kids had a blast being pulled on the tube. Ivey enjoyed the boat, too... but it was more of a soothing sleeping aid to her! All in all, it was an extremely successful trip. The only issue was when Jeff was holding Ivey a little too close to the Coleman Lantern. She reached out and touched it... leading to screams of pain for the next couple hours. I was able to get her to hold ice for a while, but when she became bored with it I couldn't get her to hold it anymore. It broke my heart to see her hurting, but as soon as the Motrin kicked in she was perfectly fine. She slept through the night and for the next week we kept it wrapped up and covered with a sock to keep it clean. What a tough girl!