4th of July camping

Several months ago, when I was comfortably pregnant, I planned a camping trip for the 4th of July. I knew I would be 30 weeks pregnant when camping, but I figured it couldn't be that hard. Ugh. I think my camping days are finally over after this trip.

First problem was the 7 hour drive, by myself, with two kids who constantly fight in the car, and being 30 weeks pregnant. The car drive was rough and took several hours longer than needed due to bathroom breaks and sanity breaks. 

Don't let the smiles fool you. These two can fight and scream
for hours straight!

But once we finally got to our "campsite" the reality set in. Originally I had chosen the Yogi Bear campsite because they had all the amenities (bathrooms, showers, pool, etc). But the actual campsite was a shame. We had no fire pit, no table, no trees, nothing. The tent sites were so close together that it was tent touching tent. We were so disappointed by the tent sites that we just set up our tent as a sleeping place and tried our best to never be at our site.

The only picture I have of our site. We are the tent farthest
on the right. We didn't spend much time here

Instead of hanging out by the campfire like we had envisioned we spent most of our time at Grammies cabin (which was also at the same campground). The cabins were actually very nice and I think from now on I will be a cabin camper. At least  until all children can sleep through the night without disturbing me (more on that later).

Brandi, Amanda, Josiah and Grandma Dian shared this cabin
on the bottom left.

I guess the Yogi Bear campground did have a few highlights. They had full showers (but we just showered in Grammie's cabin), a pool (we never used), a laundromat (we never used), as well as an assortment of activities/games for families. On the 4th of July Yogi Bear hosted a flag ceremony that the kids enjoyed. They also had hayrides at night that we were able to do one night.

Another problem with booking this trip in advance was the unexpected obsession with fishing. When I booked this trip Luke and Jack had never been fishing before and now we found ourselves at a campground we didn't like and Luke was upset there was no where to fish. Fortunately after asking around we found a nice reservoir (Ridgeway) 20 minutes away and we packed up to spend the day there.

It was a beautiful place with lots of campground which were
much nicer than our current one.

Grandma and Jack fishing

Luke and Lily

Helping Grandma cast

Josiah (and Luke across the Lake) fishing

Lily and Auntie Amanda

Jack loves to fish, but even sometimes he gets frustrated. After not catching anything Jack stormed off across the lake and left a trail in his wake. Here you can see the fishing pole he left behind and then his hat laying on the ground further in the distance. I found him under the trees watching another group of people who he thought were having more luck than him.

Grandma and Josiah

Bored of not catching anything, the kids decided
playing in the dirt was more fun

Luke and Jack

Back at the campground we got the BBQ ready for a 4th of July cookout

Jack and Auntie playing games

Hot dogs by the cabin

Papi and Luke ready for fireworks

Smoke bombs

Another great thing about this campground was that they had a huge gravel parking area where we could light off fireworks. It was the highlight of the trip for the kids

Our adventurous boy loved the loud fireworks
and looked on with amazement

The bigger and louder the fireworks, the more
Jack went crazy!

Lily however did not enjoy the fireworks as
much. She was afraid of the noise and didn't
even want to watch

The next day we drove in to Ouray which is the supposed to be "the Switzerland of America." It was definitely a beautiful place and we spent the morning at the hot springs

And then we took a hike at the waterfall park which reminded us of Trummelbach falls back in Switzerland

After the waterfalls we drove up to another fishing place that was recommended to us by a local. It was an amazingly beautiful drive and even more beautiful lake/scenery.

But of course my camera had to die right as we got there.

Anyways, the guys had fun fishing until we all got rained on. Then we tried to make another trip back to the hot springs but we weren't even in the water for 5 minutes when they closed it due to lightning.

That night I was not looking forward to sleeping in the tent again. The main reason was that Lily has been going through a really clingy nighttime routine. She wakes up several times (3-8 times per night) crying and she wouldn't sleep in her sleeping bag. She wanted to sleep in mine but there was no room for her with my growing belly so I was getting no sleep. And then there was the problem that I have to pee so many times at night and originally I had envisioned a campsite where I could sneak out and pee behind a tree or something. But seeing as there were tents right next to us, I had no where to pee in secret and had to make the trek to the bathrooms across the campground. And then there was the fact that sharing a twin mattress with Lily was not comfortable to say the least. So after two nights of no sleep (not exaggerating) I was ready to go home. So we decided to pack up that night and drive 7 hours home. As an added benefit I was hoping the kids would sleep the whole way home and we could avoid the hours of fighting we had on the way there.

So around 9pm I headed out with me and the kids in my car, while Luke and his grandma followed in his car. Grammie, Amanda and Josiah stayed back one more night in their cabin.

I can't remember the last time I drove through the night like that but I almost didn't make it. The main reason was that Jack kept having screaming fits and waking Lily up. We got him a new booster seat to replace his carseat just a few days earlier but it is no where near as padded so his butt kept going numb on him and then it would wake him up and he would cry and wake Lily up. I even stopped halfway home at a hotel, but they were all booked up as it was the 4th of July weekend. Finally I had to stop and let him walk around and bribe him with a treat to keep quiet and it worked. He fell asleep again and we made it home around 4:30am. Boy I was tired! But it was good to be home.