Camping

Our first family camping trip was a success!  We drove through beautiful Rocky Mountain National Park to get to Snow Mountain Ranch YMCA in Granby.  My biggest fear was that the kids wouldn't sleep and then that would ruin the rest of the trip (tired, cranky kids and parents = no fun).  Fortunately, they slept great!

Some friends from church let us borrow their two room tent, which was a great blessing.  We set Aria's pack n' play up in the back room and I slept in there with her while Brad and the kids slept in the front room.  It got cooler than we expected at night, but we made it through.  By the second night, the kids had the routine down and were used to sleeping in the tent.  They adapted quickly!

Night one of camping we went to a square dance on the property.  Aria LOVED spinning around in circles with her partner.  It was a fun time and a good workout before bed.

Day 2 started with a pancake, bacon and egg breakfast.  Yum!

With full tummies, we went to a bible story/craft time at the craft shop.  A lady came out and told the story of Jesus healing the ten lepers and then the kids got to make a craft.  Cadence and Finn made tie-dye hats, but they still need to be rinsed out before wearing.

After lunch at the campsite, Brad and Aria took a nap and Cadence, Finn and I went to play mini-golf.  It wasn't the most exciting course, but the kids enjoyed it.  Finn would "tee off" and then usually pick his ball up and walk it to the hole, set it down, and putt it in.  Cadence understood taking turns, with me, for the most part.  We were there to have fun, though, so we played the way we wanted to...no rules.

Next, we headed back to camp to pick up Brad and Aria and went for a dip in the swimming pool.  Cadence is usually pretty timid about keeping her face in the water, but the bug hit her and she was doing bobs in and out of the water and trying to swim under the water.  Amazing!  They decide to do something one day and just do it.  Finn rode Brad, the sea turtle, around most of the time.  Aria was pretty happy to play with a plastic ball.

We had a pre-dinner snack in the snack bar and then cooked up some hot dogs and corn for dinner.

We made roasted marshmallows and made s'mores both nights, but the kids just liked eating the marshmallows on a stick, without cooking them.  They roasted some marshmallows over the fire, but weren't too thrilled when they came out cooked.  Eating s'mores is like eating oreos, you can eat them however you like.  I used to just like eating the chocolate when I was kid.

Finally, by day 3 we had had a lot of fun but were ready to pack up, head home and take some baths.  Aria looked like Pig Pen by the end of the trip (well, really, after day 1) because she kept falling down in the dirt.  It was nice to give them baths when we got home, though I think they liked being dirty.