Camping 101

Finally, after so many years, my wish to take the children camping came true! I suppose we cheated a whole lot, but it was a first step! Maybe in the future we will do more of this!

First of all, we chose to camp out at my mom's. Second, I asked a friend to help and she brought all the equipment.

We arrived after school in time for afternoon snack. Christina and the cousins joined us and we sat around outside enjoying the beautiful weather.

Of course everyone loves Arthur! (He turned one yesterday!)

 And the cousins had a grand time running around everywhere and getting free rides in the wagon.

As dinner approached I stuck our "chicken in a packet" on the grill.

Oh was it good!!!!! Chicken with barbecue sauce, red potatoes, and peppers. Yum, yum!

There were 11 of us sitting around the table outside. It felt very festive indeed!

Afterward John and Laura mixed up some pudding!

And then we fired up the grill once again for s'mores.

Check out that yummy s'more with homemade gluten free graham crackers (not my work).

Sticky business!

We took turns visiting Job the donkey.

And when night came we turned on the Coleman lantern -- boy, did that bring back memories!

And we actually got some sleep! Here are the tents in the morning.

And a few happy campers!

Grandma let some slip inside for an early morning treat.

And for breakfast we enjoyed pancakes, sausages, orange juice, strawberries and whipped cream. The perfect camping breakfast!!!

We had such a blast that we may need to make this camping adventure a yearly event. And, I think it's taken me one step closer to camping on my own....!