Into the Wilderness!

 Camping

So glad we got to take the family camping this week and see some cousins, boat on the lake, swim around a bunch, and enjoy all the bugs! Honestly, they weren't that bad and I don't think any of us got bit enough to notice, the girls were just having way too much fun. On Tuesday we drove the 4 hours to the camping spot and the girls had to learn that the first thing we do when we get there is to set up the tent and unpack. They wanted to go run off and explore and play at the little playground, but we were the first ones there and we couldn't see it from where we were setting up so I had them help Daddy set up the tent instead. Pretty soon some cousins showed up though and they could go play before Grandpa and Grandma came and dinner was started. All the cousins had one big tent with a girl's room and a boy's room that they slept in which was peaceful for us parents and fun for them. They giggled and told 'ghost' stories for a little too long the first night, but that second night we didn't hear them staying up because everyone was exhausted from the fun.

The Lake

The activities were mostly centered around the lake with Grandpa's boat and the Harper's kayaks! Claire and Shay both learned really quickly how to row and then were cruising around the little area close to shore. I was surprised they were so good at navigating and they only fought over the pink boat a few times. Originally I planned to get in the water with Adrian, but it was too dirty and rough and he got tired as soon as we went there the first time so he took a nap while I helped get the girls going with the kayaks. I'm glad I didn't feel left out because I did have all the girl cousins and sisters-in-law want to hold him since he was the only baby out of the 3 in the family that made it to camping. Everyone got a chance to go on the tube behind the boat and I went with the younger girls to hold them on which was hard on the biceps. 

Guests

While we were gone, we had house guests! It was convenient to let them watch Buttercup because I don't think she is ready for camping and it would have made it super hard to enjoy it to have a baby and a puppy. I set up a fenced-off area with shade throughout the day, a fan to create wind, her water bowl, and her food available so she didn't have to be confined to her small cage the whole time. I had a camera to watch over her too, and luckily the most time she was stuck alone was about 6 hours. When we came home from camping, we spent a little time with our guests even though they were gone most of the day, we went out for pizza one night and the girls loved the arcade games. Claire and Shay were obsessed with making Adrian and his 3 week older cousin hold hands!