Water with gas: Labor Day Camping Trip

Our first real camping trip of the year and our first camping trip with Josie. Several weeks of planning went in to make this happen as well as some strategic packing to get everything to fit in the car:

We couldn't get it all inside, so some stuff had to go on top of the car:

We got to Beaver Meadows Resort Friday afternoon and were able to set up our camp before other friends arrived. The kids were stoked to be starting this adventure

The nights were freezing cold and Josie cried almost constantly. I had to stay up nursing and/or rocking her to keep her quiet. Needless to say, I slept less than 2 hours each night.

Josie was still up bright and early showing no signs of the sleepless night

Luke cooking breakfast on Saturday morning

We had seven other families camping with us, and all of their kids. The place was swarming with children

We took up 5 campsites as well as the homestead cabin which had 6 beds. Inside the cabin was really nice and the idea was that we would use it as a gathering place

In reality, the kids used it as a huge play place. They went wild in the cabin, running around and climbing on the beds.

And if the cabin wasn't enough, you could always find kids playing in the tents scattered about:

Meanwhile, all the adults were able to hang out with no children around

The kids found this flag somewhere and it made it's way into most of the pictures

Someone brought a medal detector and it was hours of fun for the kids

The majority of the days were just spending time with friends

Josie took a nice long nap to make up for the sleepless night. Unfortunately no nap for me

Surprisingly there were no injuries despite the wild children

Saturday night we all gathered for a group raclette party. One of the most delicious dinners I have ever known

I tried to get a group shot of all the kids, but I think at least one was left out of this picture

Sunday morning pancakes

Friends of ours love to play card games and they brought along Ultimate Werewolves. It was a hit and we spent hours playing

The kids loved playing all sorts of other card games they brought along

Fly fishing lessons

I walked into the cabin to find Noah on the middle bunk tossing marshmallows down to Jack and Lily who were trying to catch them in their hands and mouths.

We had two close calls with Lily almost getting injured. At one point she got her neck stuck somehow in the bunk beds, but was able to eventually get free. Another time they were playing a game of jumping from the middle bunk down to the couch below. Lily missed the couch and belly/face planted right on the floor.

Playing Werewolves with the group was a blast!

We played it several times a day

Even the kids got into the game and played several kids games

Coloring with chalk is always a hit

Frisbee

We had a nice set up for dinner on Sunday night.

Monday morning. Josie looks well rested... but don't be deceived it was an awful night

Sunday night Luke went to go hang out with the dads at another campsite while I wanted to get to bed early with the kids. About an hour after getting into the tent I heard noises right outside. I just figured someone from one of the campsites was walking around and I tried to ignore it. The noises sounded really close but I thought it was my imagination. That was until I heard our friends who were sharing a campsite with us. The husband was shining a light and saw a bear and then he woke up the wife and they sounded pretty panicked. The bear was right at our tent and it was just me and the kids. I jumped out of the sleeping bag and grabbed my car keys thinking I would set off the alarm. Then I peeked out of the tent and saw the husband outside with his flashlight. I went out an walked around with him for a while and texted the other guys to have Luke come back. Soon enough, Luke and his friend Leif came back to the tent with a flashlight and bear mace. They decided to try to find the bear and I went back in the tent to try and sleep. It was another sleepless night.

In the morning we were able to see evidence of the bear. The trash that was right next to our tent was torn to shreds and the friends we were sharing the campsite with had a cooler with bite marks.

Across from our campsite, the bear had torn through these peoples trash

And the bear even walked down through all the other campsites our friends were staying at. The friend with the bear mace said he saw three bear cubs going through their food in the early morning. Here is their table covered in mud from the bears.

Monday morning we spent cleaning and packing. The kids colored outside

And went on their own bear hunts looking for evidence

Here is that flag again

Luke took Jack fishing while I started packing up. We had a ton of stuff to fit into our car

But by the time they came back it had started raining and Luke had to tear down the tent in the rain and put everything away wet.

One thing that really came in handy this trip was our spare potty. Lily refused to use the outhouse and so did another 3 year old that was on the trip. So they were both able to use this little potty. Also, during the cold nights it was handy to have this potty in the tent so that we didn't have to go outside for potty breaks.

We also set up a hand washing station that made it easier to keep the kids clean.

After we finally got the car all packed up we headed out to spend an afternoon fishing at the red feather lakes. We fished on West Lake and it was a beautiful afternoon despite the earlier rainstorms. Josie enjoyed eating all the rocks