Happy Campers

She looks upset but really her mouth was just full
of food, she was really quite happy.

We took the girls camping over the weekend, this was our second attempt camping with both of them and it went considerably  better than the first.  So much better in fact that I think it is one of my favorite things that we have ever done with the girls, which is good because Ryan and I really enjoy camping and would love to do it often.  We decided to do just a one nighter since we weren't sure what would happen. They were in heaven most of the time.  I say most because while we were eating dinner right after we got there the flies were swarming Lauren and she was freaking out.  I thought we were in for a very long weekend if this kid couldn't handle a few flies, welcome to life in the great outdoors Lauren.  But luckily after the initial upset they didn't seem to bother her too much.  Rachel loved every minute. Within 30 minutes Rachel was covered in dirt and was very pleased about it.  The girls loved being able to go exploring through the "dark forest" which was really just a small cluster of trees and bushes by our camp site and not actually dark at all.  A good deal of the time was spent throwing rocks into the reservoir.  Ryan even made a record and got a rock to skip 5 times, I was super impressed. One of the best things, maybe THE best thing, about the trip it was to have no distractions, just family time in the great outdoors.  While we were sitting around the fire that night toasting our s'mores, Lauren turns to me with her chocolate covered face and said, "I love camping!" And really what kid wouldn't say that after getting dirty, having her parents undivided attention, staying up late, and eating two s'mores? Yay for a successful weekend! One more cool thing about this trip: I found both the girls kid-sized sleeping bags at a thrift store and another little camping chair (thought it might be a good idea to have two since we have two little kids) all for $7. Awesome.

Rachel's hands about 15 minutes after we got there

My favorite part of this picture is the dirt hand print on her face

Happy Camper

Cool bushes all over the place

The reservoir 

Trying to keep the girls from jumping in

Snuggling by the fire

Throwing rocks

You can't really hear what is going on in this because of the wind, but Rachel 

is telling us that she is washing herself.  She thinks every body of water is a bath.

                            This is mostly to show how black Rachel's pants were the second day.
                           Barely been up an hour and her back side is completely black.