Hull / Berlin Camping Trip 2011!

 A few months ago, I got an idea in my head that I wanted to experience camping with Parker before baby #2 came along!  I very well knew I may end up regretting this decision, but there was no stopping me!  I (with the help of my friend, Diane) found a great deal on SweetJack's web site for 2 nights of camping at Lake Lanier - which is only 30 minutes from our house.  Well - let me tell you - BEST.  DECISION.  EVER!  We had SUCH a great time!   We really started talking it up with Parker a few days before and by Friday he was READY to go "tamping" as he called it.  Here he is in the truck on the way! 

 We didn't get to our campsite til about 8:00 (past his normal bedtime) but he was so hyper and excited - there was no way we would have gotten him to bed any earlier.  This kid LITERALLY never stopped giggling the entire evening!  We gave him all sorts of jobs to do which I think helped.  He filled up his bucket with pine cones and we even gave him is very own flashlight which he thought was just awesome. We put up the tent with the light from the headlights and our lantern we borrowed from Aunt Nitney and Uncle Doug, blew up our air mattress, made a pallet in the corner for Park then went to make a fire!  Mr. Jon and Mrs. Robin (our awesome neighbors) got there shortly after our fire was made which hyped our little P-man up again... He finally went to bed around 11:30 but really slept pretty well considering it was his first time ever sleeping in a tent outside!

When the sun came up, he crawled up on our mattress and curled up next to daddy for a little bit.

 He definitely survived his first night of camping!  (Yup - that's his lovey in his hands - we wouldn't go anywhere without it!)  We were both really worried that 1) he wouldn't go to bed in the tent by himself without mommy or daddy and 2) he would get REALLY cold at night seeing that temps were down in the low 40s all night long.  Well - neither of these were even an issue!  He actually ASKED his daddy to leave him in the tent when he was ready for bed on Friday night and every time we checked him throughout the night, he was actually HOT!  Our tent was really small so I think the body heat circulated through the area really well and kept us all warm.  I hardly even needed a blanket on!

We knew we had a few hours to kill before Mr. Jon and Mrs. Robin woke up so Chris took Parker down to the beach (also part of our campsite - awesome) they had some father/son time before breakfast!

When the Berlins finally got up - it was TIME TO MAKE BREAKFAST!  Chris was our master breakfast chef - he cooked sausage, bacon and eggs over an open fire on our cast iron skillet that we got as a wedding gift but never used!  He cooked the bacon first so that everything else would be drenched in bacon grease :)  YUMMMM!

After breakfast, we all hung out by the fire for a bit (it was chilly!) then we all got our showers in the bathrooms which were right next to our site as well.  It was actually a GREAT, SUPER HOT shower!  I was very impressed.  We tried to get Parker to nap for a bit, but he wanted no part in sleeping in the tent when the sun was up!  So - we decided to ditch the nap and head over to Lanier Parks to let Parker ride a pony!  Well before we even pulled out of our parking space next to our campsite, Parker was passed out so we drove around for a bit so he'd get a little nap in.  

Let me tell you - the pony ride was the highlight of our trip!  He had SUCH a great time and SMILED the entire time he was on that pony!  He got to ride the slowest horse in the entire world named Blackjack about 30 minutes around a little track with his daddy next to him and Chris even admitted that the time he got to spend with Parker during that 30 minutes was really special.  Park came up with some of the silliest things to say like, "No Blackjack - don't eat the gass (grass)"  and "Hurry up Blackjack!  Go faster!" and "Bown (brown) is my fav-ite color, daddy." (Yeah random.)  Anyway - here we all are with the famous Blackjack!

Our campsite was seriously awesome.  It was RIGHT next to the bathrooms (came in handy when I had to get up in the middle of the night to go!) and we were also right next to the lake!  You couldn't have asked for a better view!

Our tents!

It was pretty chilly Saturday afternoon so we took turns playing with Parker in the tent.

THEN we went down by the fire to make smores - YUMMMMMY!

DINNER TIME!  YUMMMM!  Jon made us some hotdogs over the fire!  And we heated up some chili over the fire as well for some awesome cheesy chili hot dogs!  I've decided that camping food is the BEST!

Park's fave food is definitley hot dogs so he was super happy with our choice of food!

Mmmmmm!

Family picture - Camping Trip 2011!  

I think we'll have to skip next year with a baby but maybe the next year we can revisit our campsite!  I think we'll have to invest in a bigger tent though!  :)