Last weekend we thought we'd adventure into the wilderness, and go camping. We chose a place nearby, only about 90 min. away. We had to go after swim lessons and lunch, so we thought the kids would sleep in the car on the way.

You know why I mentioned that part about sleeping don't you?

Saturday at the camp ground was a little challenging with two very tired children that would not, or could not, listen.  I got the tent and sleeping arrangements all set up, and the kids had a snack at the picnic table.  Then I started to set up the 'kitchen area' of the picnic table.  David wanted help with that by touching as many things as he could.  Isabelle was pretty good, but wanted to walk as close to the edge of the 5 ft drop into the stream behind our camp.  We tried to have them relax and have some low energy time at the picnic table.  But no, they wanted to run around in circles around the tent.  Which was fine, save for the dust kicked up, but they were having fun, so it was fine.  But if anything was not going to plan in their eyes, the whining started.  We decided to head out for a little trail around the campground, maybe a mile long ( 1.6 km) loop.

They both enjoy 'nature walks' at home.  And this seemed like a good purposeful distraction.  We got about 100 meters out, and David needed to be carried, cause he was sooooo tired.  So Julie carried him for a minute, put him down, and he would walk a little further, then repeat.  He was so tired, he could hardly keep his eyes open.  Julie ended taking him back to the tent for a little nap while Isabelle and I continued our walk.

I spotted a few deer, which I pointed out to Isabelle, who proceeded to tell me their names were Bambi and Felise, which is how she remembers the name of Bambi's girlfriend, Faline.  Then I think she was a little bit afraid of seeing a bear.  After a few minutes, I convinced her that we wouldn't see any bears in that area.  As we got closer to the campground, we saw a gaggle of wild turkeys as well.  Isabelle didn't name them though.

We got back to the tent, and found a almost naked David running around the inside of the tent, NOT napping.  It seems that getting carried back to the tent was enough rest for a boy who's almost 3, and the tent was too new and exciting to sleep in!

We still had about an hour before it was time to start dinner, so we took a smaller nature walk to the stream and did some exploring there.  We found tadpoles in the water, but no frogs.  We later learned that some other, older boys had found some frogs, so when we were looking for them, I'm sure only the best hiding frogs were still around.  We also found a wild bramble of blackberries, and had a little snack of fresh berries.

Dinner was good, and the kids ate well.  Then we decided to reward them, and introduce a camping special - S'MORES!  We didn't have a camp fire, as that was too much a risk with the two kids in the state they were in.  Especially if we were going to add a bunch of sugar via marshmallows, graham crackers and chocolate!  We collected a couple of good sticks, I whittled them down, and we roasted marshmallows over the camping stove, which was good enough for everyone involved.  Then the quiet goodness of eating fresh hot s'mores.

After that, we just kinda sat around the camp and tried to keep the kids quiet.  Not shhh, don't make a sound quiet, but rather the don't run around and get crazy until there is a meltdown quiet.  Isabelle was very eager to find the first star in the sky, which she did.

Getting to sleep was a little challenging, as was foreshadowed by the non-nap david took earlier.  Eventually, of course, after much fidgeting and some crying, sleep won out.

Julie and I were awoken around 2 a.m. by what we think was a turkey vocalizing.  Not a gobble-gobble, but rather a double scream, almost like a bigger sounding crow's squak, which echoed in the valley.  Maybe it was an owl, or a fox, or some crazy coyote.  It was a little confusing, as you might imagine.  Especially since it was moving.  But we were tired, so we quickly went back to sleep.

I woke up to Isabelle saying, "Daddy, Look!"

And right outside out tent, a few meters away, were a couple of deer, munching on the camp meadow before all the campers awoke to spoil their buffet of grass, flowers, and natural herbs.

That was the start to a good morning, as the kids had slept, and were much better at listening and playing.  I cooked up some hot Malt-o-meal, which the kids loved for breakfast.  We took another nature walk around the camp, and saw lots more deer, some chattering squirrels, and a family of woodpeckers.  In fact, deer were the predominant theme of the day, as we saw a family of them as we left the park before lunch.