Well, we survived our first family camping trip! My husband took Tuesday off so we had an extra long weekend and it sure was quite the weekend! E seemed to thoroughly enjoy herself most of the time. She got to play in the sand a whole ton, crawl around in the dirt, ride her bike, go swimming (even though she was not digging the cold water all weekend), swing, swing and, swing some more, and eat her weight in goldfish crackers. She had a great time! We had a great time watching her have so much fun.
We left Saturday morning so that we wouldn’t have to set up camp in the dark. We went to Hoeft State Park in Rogers City, which is about a 3 and half hour drive north from where we live. We hit some traffic on the way up and E did not like that. She woke up right as soon as we stopped, thinking it was time to get out. Sitting in stop and go traffic is not fun, but add in a screaming baby? We rolled down the windows to drown out some of the noise, and I could feel the sympathy from the people driving by us.
We had to stop about an hour away from home, although it took us 2 hours to get there! We had a nice long stop and a snack, drove for a bit more, got lunch and ice cream and then finally made it to the campground about 6 and a half hours after we left. Yikes! We quickly set up and then headed straight to the beach. The campground was right on Lake Huron and it was beautiful! The water was chilly but refreshing. A little rocky, but E absolutely loves playing with rocks, so she was in heaven, even though the water was too cold for her. It was so nice to be by the water, since we didn’t make it to the lake all last summer!
The next day we took a walk to the campground park to swing. Swinging is pretty much E’s all time favorite thing these days! She also just loves strolling around in this little trike. We decided to take this and the baby carrier instead of the stroller. It was a good decision.
Later that day, we drove over to Onaway to visit some friends who were also up north at their cottage on Black Lake. We stopped at a craft fair and had lunch and then spent the rest of the afternoon swimming in the lake. E actually did get in this water, but spent most of the time playing on the dock. It was nice to pass her off to someone for a little while haha!
Back at the campground, we had a nice night playing on the sand dunes. E crawled all the way down, but of course, would not climb back up so Daddy got a good work out! This was nice cool, smooth sand so we relaxed here for awhile while E played.
On Monday, the 4th, we went to Ocqueoc Falls and had a picnic. This is a really neat waterfall that you can get right in and swim in. E was not having it though and wanted to be carried everywhere. She finally realized it was a little fun, but she spent most of the time whining. Oy oy oy.
She perked right up when she got her goldfish crackers. She is seriously addicted.
We were supposed to stay until Tuesday, but we had a bit of a rough night the night before and I didn’t really feel like risking another sleepless night just to pack up and leave early the next day. E did fine sleeping in the tent the first night, but the second night she would not sleep by herself and I can’t sleep well with her in bed with us because she wants to nurse all night long. So needless to say, mommy was a little cranky. We are total night owls though, so we decided to bail on the last night and pack up our stuff that evening and head south to catch some fireworks on the way home. We stopped at the beach one last time for a swim, roasted hot dogs, made s’mores and took off!
E was a fan of the s’mores. I mean who isn’t?! This was her first time trying them.
We stopped in Alpena to watch the fireworks over the water. E got a pretty good kick out of them. She was oooo-ing and ahhh-ing and pointing every time one went off. She did wonderful, considering it was so late past her bedtime! I think she knew and she was up partying and dancing to the music.
We got home really really late, or I guess really really early in the morning. E slept the whole way and we didn’t have to stop once! I sure was glad to be back in my bed when we got home. We all slept in until 10:30 the next day. Thank goodness! We made some wonderful family memories, but that was a hell of a lot of work for some fun!! But isn’t that how motherhood always is? I was tired when we left and more tired when we got home. I need a vacation from my vacation!
I hope you all had a wonderful holiday weekend with lots of family fun!