Our First Family Camping Vacation

We did it! We actually completed our first annual Family Camping Vacation to Cherry Creek Reservoir! And we had so much fun! Let me start in the beginning....last summer we went to CCR to visit a friend who was camping with her family and we stayed for dinner and s'mores. It was nice and I thought, how cool it would be if we went camping next year. In the mean time DH has quit smoking and is looking forward to doing things he hasn't done in years....because he was busy. Back to the present day....I book our campsite for this June. DH is driving home and stops at a garage sale and buys a cool tent for $20. He NEVER stops at garages sales. I go back and tell them Thank you, because my DH is so excited about camping now that he found the perfect tent!! It even has a screened in front porch. Great buy Kip.
Preparing the food for this trip was really fun....I wanted to have great food and not just get by since we were only there for 3 nights. We also planned to BBQ with Natalie and her family one night. They made delicious hamburgers.
Taylor had fun getting dirty and playing with her friend Isabella and her little sister. They rode bikes, played in the dirt and just made up games. I love make believe best! I actually started a book finally. Kip earned some well deserved nap time too.
We spent Saturday night huddled around a camp fire after a big rain storm and decided to sleep at home and come back in the morning for breakfast and to pack up. Man, my bed felt great. The air mattresses were pretty good, but not like my bed. Plus our kitties missed us. We are excited to do it again next year and maybe even add another long weekend to our schedule of summer fun, only next year we will have two kiddos and twice as much fun!

Camping at Cherry Creek

Actually, we didn't go camping, but friends of ours did so we crashed their campsite at Cherry Creek Reservoir. We made s'mores and ate sticky yummy marshmallows! Taylor and her friend Isabella along with the other kids were having a blast. I think I have convinced Kip to go camping there if not this summer, then next year. Of course, camping used to be the Hilton without a hair dryer, but I could do this! The park is about 2 miles from our home and yet it felt like we were miles away. Thank you Natalie and Don for the invite to stop in for a s'more and fun! Natalie took some family photos of us while we were visiting them. She does good work!

A great memory I have of growing up (still thankful I have memories!) is of the family camping trips we used to take. My mom was the camper-extraordinaire! She taught us how to prepare food in foil long before the Reynolds Wrap Gals! We learned how to tie knots and hang our booty up high on dowels. You name it, my mom knew it. Of course, dad was the fisherman and taught us how to fish and we also went water skiing. I think I can still do it, but then reality hits and my shoulders hurt just thinking about being yanked out of the water...maybe it's my boose that is weighing me down. Anyway, I also remember hanging out at the lake and pool in Sandpoint, ID.where my grandma Pearl lived, my mom's mother. She was awesome. Most of our family camping trips took place when we lived in So. Cal. Because we were Camp Fire Girls, we also got to attend Camp Nawakwa for 1-2 weeks every summer. Man those were the days. We had so much fun doing everything you would expect to do and learn at camp. I really hope Taylor gets these opportunities and enjoys them as much as I did. I know Kip grew up taking camping trips with his mom & dad too. We laugh reminiscing about the good old days. Actually we laugh about having good ole days! I have to have an air mattress now!