It has been a busy summer for Bryan and with only a few weeks off in July this year we wanted to make the most of our time together. Thankfully we were able to get one vacation in, courtesy of Grandpa Jim and Grandma Patti.
SATURDAY (DAY ONE):
We were the last to arrive on Saturday since we were waiting around in our house, praying for the rain to stop just long enough for us to load up the truck with all of our gear. The drive to the camp ground was short and sweet (great for a little guy who screamed the entire way) and we were greeted by a few splinters of sun seeping through the heavy trees above us.
Bryan and I are both campers at heart and love nothing more than sleeping in a tent, wreaking of smokey campfires and spending endless days chasing after our kids in the woods. With that said camping with three little kids is WORK so as soon as we arrived we began our tasks...
We call this "the castle"...
Grandpa Jim and Grandma Patti bought the kids these foam swords and they were a hit the entire week...
Since the ground was wet Charlie stuck with Daddy and me most of the time. A scooting baby is no fun on wet muddy dirt...
The kids loved their outdoor dining arrangements...
...and LOVED the sleeping arrangements even more...
SUNDAY (DAY TWO):
Since we had so much going on in the month of July I decided to celebrate Charlie's first birthday while we were camping. Since this is one of our most favorite places to come visit with the kids it just felt right.
Auntie Amanda whipped up a gorgeous invitation for us...
Remember this? I think the trend of creating Charlie's parties with Jack's picks from previous years may be my new thing. I did add a few extra details but nothing
too fancy...
This birthday banner was one of my favorite things. If I ever completely finish unpacking all of our camping stuff it is going straight to his room, above his bed...
The weather didn't turn out as the weatherman predicted but Grandpa Jim and Uncle Mike kept the kids occupied out in the rain nonetheless...
With the drizzling rain I was feeling pretty thankful that I had decided to rent out the day use facility...
When all of our guests arrived I loaded them up with buckets and shovels and they headed on down to the beach...
We all filled our bellies with hot dogs, potato salad, baked beans and chips...
I LOVE that my dad and Auntie Tammy had some time to talk about their upcoming ankle replacement surgeries. We are sure praying that in next year's photo they are running races down this beach...
Uncle Big Tom and CousinVinnie looked pretty sweet heading out to the beach...
With full bellies, Grandma Jones led the kiddoes on some exploring adventures...
Then we all gathered around to sing "happy birthday" to Charlie in a new and very special Captain Zoom way...
When it was finally time to head back up to camp these little kiddoes were EXHAUSTED. Jack pleaded and pleaded for Auntie Jenny bury him in all of the balloons. When every last balloon was touching his body he was finally satisfied and off they went...
I have to say that the first TWO days of this trip were definitely great indicators of all the fun that was about to follow...
