Camp Rains-a-Lot

Last week we tried to go camping. It started off great. We got the car packed (no easy feat), got there, and  I set up the tent while M made lunch. By herself! (J took the pics of her being a little mama.)

After we ate, we changed and headed to the sand dunes. I wish the pictures did it justice.

 It was bright and the sand was hot!

 Here's looking down from the top. It's hard to tell the lake from the sky!

 More views:

 "swimming" in the lake:

 I wouldn't let them go much deeper because it was just too cold for me to go in that water! It didn't bother J a bit. M would go for a dip and then come out shivering! It's crystal clear though and oddly enough didn't smell as much like a lake as the other beach we go to. Isn't that a little weird? Maybe I just don't know enough about lakes.

 M + my foot...that's my great photography skills coming out...

 And because you haven't seen enough:

 At dinner later:

 Nothing like eating around a campfire!

All was going well until about 8 pm when we were getting ready for bed. M tells the story best: (I had locked them in the car with my phone to call 911 in case anything happened).

So, M and I literally threw everything in the car around 10 pm (J slept through all this) and went home. I promised them I would make it up to them so the next evening we had tin foil dinners that I cooked on the grill, ate them on a picnic blanket outside (I'm sure the neighbors think I am looney), and set up the tent-right in the yard.

 Before going to "sleep" we had a rousing game of Go Fish. Then J went to sleep.

 M and I read for a bit. Then just as we were starting to doze off we had a great big thunderstorm. Those don't happen often here, but because we were in the tent, we got a storm. We stayed mostly dry. Once the storm passed and the rain calmed down, I felt like I had just dozed off when M nudged me because her air mattress and gone flat. So we ended up all three of us on one full size mattress for the rest of the night. Which, thanks to J only lasted til six am. So, needless to say, we were all pretty worn out the next day. Even with all the rain, muggy heat, and flat mattresses, I would do it again! I love being with my babies. Watching their eye lids droop as they finally give in to sleep is a sweet moment I don't get to experience often! I loved being able to whisper and giggle with M after J had gone to sleep. We watched fireflies together and held hands during the thunder. Those moments were worth all the other miserable ones!