Camping

We had our first camping trip with kids this summer, well camping with an RV:) The boys were so excited. Jake had been waiting for this trip all summer, crossing days off his calender every night leading up, as if it were Christmas. When the giant RV pulled up in our driveway he was jumping with excitement. The neighbor kids had run up the driveway to check it out and he invited them in to play.

My family went on the trip (Papa, Nana, Uncle Trent and Aunt Bethany, Uncle David and Aunt Molly). Even Leroy came on this trip. We loaded up at 3:45am and headed out to the beautiful Mammoth mountains. It was a great time! A little hiking, fishing, campfires, smores, boating, bears-yep you heard me we saw bears! Two nights in a row. The first night we made a beginners mistake and forgot to take the trash out. Everyone assumed someone else took care of it. The bear was BIG and we were all inside the RV except my dad and Leroy. He put teeth marks right through an empty cooler.

Jake LOVED fishing. A die hard. I thought for sure at 5 1/2 years old his patience level would fizzle quickly but he couldn't get enough. He did not catch a fish:( but was able to reel one of his dads in and hold one his Papa caught. Jake learned quickly and was surprisingly good at casting. One afternoon as we sat around the campground he practiced for at least an hour. He was so cute walking around with his little hiking boots, creel, and fishing pole- a little Huck Fin:) Jake even took a little dip in the freezing stream water with Dad and Aunt Molly.

Joshy loves to be outside so therefore loved camping as well. Joshy loves life to the fullest and has a way of enveloping it. When we go to the lake he cant just look at it or put his toes in it. He ends up completely drenched and with his clothes drying on a rock. Same with the dirt, he has to run his hands all through it and then all over himself, becoming a dirt ball:) Joshy loved the little chipmunks and would chase them all around. One day we were feeding them and to our shock one came right up to his hand and took the food!

It was a great little vacation. When I came home I was exhausted! As a kid we went to the mountains every summer. When I was about Jake's age my family had rented an RV and the memory sticks out in my mind as a great load of fun. I think it will be the same for Jake. The great thing about camping is you come home with great memories, an awed appreciation for God's creation, and a new appreciation for how easy we have things.