How About a Little Saddleback Campground

Labor Day Weekend, we went on our final camping trip (I make it sound like we have gone multiple times this summer. Only twice). We went with the same friends from our first camping trip of the summer, plus two families they are related to. What a difference it makes having older kids to entertain toddlers. I would say the hardest part about the trip was Ivy wanting to crawl everywhere (which I didn't let her) and night time. I think that I can honestly say that I do not enjoy sleeping in a tent. I really do enjoy camping, I just never sleep well. Especially when both kids wake up during different times of the night, the baby is in bed with me cause she is cold, I have to pee but am too scared to get out of the tent, or I am freaking out that an animal will tear our tent (and us) to shreds. 

Oh, I forgot to mention that the drive up was the drive from HELL. Seriously considered turning back after we got lost 30 minutes into the supposed two hour drive. THEN, when we were withing 10 minutes of getting there, girls screaming, me close to losing it, we missed a very crucial turn and drove another 25ish min in the wrong direction. Once we finally got REALLY close to our campground, we had to turn around one more time to actually stop and ask for directions. By this time, Scott was inches away from spanking Ada, and I was inches away from jumping out of the car and poor Ivy was just so tired and hungry and had no idea why everyone was so mad. I had convinced Scott not to pack  a lunch for the drive because we would just stop at McDonalds. Well, we learned the hard way (or I did) that there are no Fast Food in that part of the country! Anyway, it took us just about three hours to get there when it should have been two. HUGE difference when traveling with little ones. 

Okay, back to the pictures.

Once we set up camp, we went on a little "Adventure" as we call small excursions

 It was super bright and that was one thing Ada had been SCREAMING for in the car was sunglasses. She still wanted them at this time cause the sun was so strong.

 Some of the group.

 Don't you just love Ivy's hair?

 Remember Bugles? I found some at WinCo for a buck. Ada called them "Finger Chips"

 Not even two hours on the camping trip and the kids are filthy

 Tinfoil Dinners, a must while camping.

 Even with the three warm layers AND Beeny, poor Ivy got really cold and ended up on the air mattress with me and Scott.

 Sweet Picture

 Sweet Face.

This is Ada's new smile for the camera

 After our first night in the tent. 

HORRIBLE I would say. Ivy woke up just as we were going to bed and her nose and fingertips were ice so I pulled her into bed with us. It was a really cold night so I never was able to really warm up and Ada woke up in the middle of the night and said she was done sleeping and refused to get back in her bed. Scott finally convinced her to go back to sleep, but the catch was, he had to go with her. So he snuggled with her on the ground while I shared the queen sized mattress with Ivy. Suprsingly, I didn't have to use the bathroom in the middle of the night (second night was a different story), which I was grateful for. Terrifies me to have to get out of the tent by myself in the dark when everyone else is sleeping but many animals are not.

 Trying to get warm in front of the fire

 It was so  nice having other's to help entertain the kids. Ada had a little crush on Logan

 We thought that Ivy would enjoy hanging out in the Pack and Play. Not so much

 These kids are trouble!

 Going out in the canoes. So much fun

 Not fair...Josh got the whole boat to himself

 Catching fish

 Ivy really wanted to play in the water...sigh...I finally gave in. She was a happy baby

 Ivy's new friend

 Went for a little hike. It ended up being longer than we anticipated and didn't bring any water. Ada was complaining about being thirsty just as some other hikers were headed back down the trail. As gross as this is, one of the really nice (and clean) ladies gave Ada her really nice water bottle to keep. Normally I would politely decline (I think I did too) but this Grandma was persistent about Ada getting some water. In the end I was grateful because it would have been a really long hike back to camp without the water.

 Ada's "Camera smile" again

 My sweet, sweet girls

 Anyone for a little ATV ride? 

 We took a little drive after our hike to check out another beautiful lake. 

 So gorgeous

 

 We let Ada stay up a little later our last night

 First and only family picture

So I have a funny story about the last  night. The campers next to us were a little WT (If you don't know what WT is...then ask someone). Anyway, they were getting really loud and crass with lot's of swearing (major F bombs). Ivy had already woken up a couple of times, and it was past quiet hours. I was starting to fume. Scott hadn't come in the tent yet, but as soon as he did, I put my shoes on, grabbed the flashlight, and headed over to their campfire where about 10 of them were sitting around it. They all stopped talking as soon as I walked up. I said something along the lines of, "Can you guys keep it down? You are being really loud and we have little kids. Plus quiet hours are at 10." They said they were sorry and I headed back. They stayed quiet for a bit, but the alcohol was kicking in and they continued swearing and talking as loud as they could for the next couple of hrs. Now, when I did this, I wasn't rude or anything, I asked them very nicely.

What makes this a funny story (I think anyway), was while we were packing up the next morning, Ada started playing on a tree stump really close to their site. I went over to get her and I hear someone singing, "Ding dong the witch is dead." Now, maybe it was a coincidence that just as I was walking over there, some teenage boy got a Wizard of Oz song about the witch, stuck in his head. But my gut tells me the song was for me. Hey, no one messes with my sleep (unless it's my kids)

We had so much fun and are glad that we had another chance to go camping with our good friends before the summer was over. 

Thank you Green Family for inviting us and letting us meet and hang out with your cool family!