Camping!

so we took the kids on their first camping trip this weekend!  we had so much fun.  we were hesitant to go by ourselves (and rightly so) because of being outnumbered by the kids.  thomas doesn't listen all the time - he'll just run off and ignore you - which can be very dangerous in the woods by water.  and monkey is into everything - so we asked my parents if they wanted to come with us.  some siblings and their friends came too- so we had a good-size group.  it was great for us, because there were always extra eyes and hands to keep an eye on the kids. 
we went to this really cool place where a river meets a reservoir - and it's protected land - so most of the walkways were boardwalks and we saw a lot of animals:  deer, beaver, hawks, prairie dogs (we think) and rabbits.  very cool for the kids.  we didn't know that the campsites would be so far from the parking lot (about a 1/2 mile, we think) so we weren't totally prepared for hauling our stuff back and forth - but they had these cool carts you could pull around - gave me a new appreciation for the pioneers who pushed handcarts across the country!  being far from the parking lot was cool because it was really quiet - which was great.  we also had some great scenery and sunsets.
my friend tara told me once after her kids' first camping trip that you just have to realize that your kids will be dirty the whole time you're there and just let that go.  thankfully i remembered that sound advice - because holy cow were my kids filthy!  thomas loves playing in the dirt - it's actually good for his sensory problems.  and he came up with a new (harry potter) game of throwing a handful of dirt down and yelling ' i-ah-alley' (diagon alley) - for you non-harry-potter folks, i will not begin to describe travelling by floo powder.  it was cute though - good imagination!  and although we brought several changes of clothes, we didn't bring enough - thomas wore his (2nd pair) of pj's the whole last day - and rode home in the car with just a diaper after another trip to the lake.  and this is what happens when you don't bring enough clothes:  poor monkey wearing his brother's shirt and his sister's pants. i had to snap this shot of his little flowered-behind!
we got to go in my dad's canoe - the kids loved that.  we tried our whole family - monkey is in front of me, princess in the middle, and thomas in front of aaron.  i blurred thomas's face, but it was hardly necessary as he was barely recognizeable under the dirt!  we got a little nervous being outnumbered by the non-swimmers because the reservoir is really deep.  so we paddled around a little and came back - i took monkey out to play on the boat ramp while aaron and my dad took the other kids out for a long ride. 
anyway - fabulous time - wish we could've stayed longer - but it was a very successful first campout.  i'll put some more pictures up on flickr.