Staycation Part 2: Camping

For Staycation Part 2, we took the kids on our first family camping adventure to Two Rivers State Recreation Area.  And we had a BLAST!!!!  I took TONS of pictures, so get ready for a photo dump. 

First we spent Monday afternoon enjoying our first swim in the lake.  The kiddos LOVED the lake!  LOVED!!  Luckily I had some water shoes from last year that just barely still fit.  They were a MUST HAVE!

Swimming started out like this..... but just you wait & see where it went!

He is looking kinda chubby?  Now if only he had a butt so his pants stayed up!

 Dug in the sand.  Built sand castles (or "cupcakes").  Drove boats.  They really had fun.

 They got brave, so we broke out our new puddle jumpers for safety's sake.

 Liv got REALLY brave!!

 The boys, not nearly as much.

 She even got the whole on your belly, kick your feet, paddle your arms thing!

 She swam, swam, swam.... swam until she couldn't touch & realizes how far she was from shore.  Then she got worried.  None the less, I was beyond impressed!

After swimming we got to check into our cabin.

 Yep, THAT is our cabin.  My little train loving boys' DREAM come true.  A train caboose cabin!  We lucked out that there was one available short notice.  And we lucked out that the standard 2 night minimum to stay got waved, because we were short notice booking.  (One night for them at this age was plenty!)  We stayed on the end, cabin #10.  Totally sticking with an end one if we do this ever again. 

 This was MY type of "camping."  These cabooses are made into cabins with a toilet & shower,

 a kitchen & dining table complete with sink, fridge & microwave,

 bunk beds & a loft area with 2 twin mattresses,

 3 of the cutest kids ever.... oh wait.... we brought those,

 and AIR CONDITIONING!!  Thank goodness.  It was a HOT day!!

After getting settled in, we took off for our first fishing adventure. 

 Since all the pictures are of Jeff & the kids, here is my shadow to prove I was there too!

 Logan did SO well.  Really enjoyed reeling in.  We cast the line out for them with a little plastic fish on the end of each one, so they could "catch" their fishes over & over again.

 No real hooks were involved with their poles.  Three 2 year olds & 3 weapons fishing poles was dangerous enough!

 Me & Hayden taking a break from fishing & watching the birds.

 Girlies relaxing....

We didn't actually catch any fish (even though Jeff did have a hook & worms)  But something about 3 loud kids didn't make a catch promising from the get go.  I'm sure business was good on the other side of the lake!

Then back to the "come-a-boose" {as Logan would say} for supper.  Hotdogs, chips, salads.  Yum!  The site comes with a grill (just bring your own charcoal!)

 Attempt at pictures to keep us busy while daddy cooks.

 Driving the caboose.

After super we got in some showers (see this caboose camping thing sounds pretty good doesn't it!?)  Showers!  With hot water even.  Then we watched daddy roast us some marshmallows.  There is a fire pit by each cabin & we just collected some scrap wood for a little fire.

As for s'mores {AKA "chocolate sandwich"es} Logan ate the graham crackers.  Livi ate 2 bites.  Hayden said "I don't like chocolate."  And well.... that left PLENTY for me! 

Then it was time for bed.  This was our set-up.  We put a blow up mattress between the bunk beds & piled all 3 kids on there.  There were even 2 bed rails in the cabin.  One fit on one side of the air mattress & on the other side we put the suitcase, so if they fell it wasn't far.  Jeff & I slept on the bottom bunks right beside them.

 Well that was the plan anyway.  But Logan did NOT want to share the mattress.  He wanted to sleep on the floor.

These 2 cuddled right up!

 Meanwhile we treated ourselves to an adult beverage by the fire before crawling into bed ourselves.

 I did plop Logan in bed too once they were all asleep.  How cute is this??!!

They each did good sleeping respectively.  But you throw 3 "goods" together & it adds up to only about 3 hours for mom & dad.  Logan woke up once & WANTED back on the floor, but settled for sleeping with Jeff.  Hayden fell off the mattress into the suitcase once.  And Livi woke up screaming once because her arm was stuck under Hayden, who was cuddled up that closely to her.  But overall, I can't say enough good things about how they behaved & how the trip went.  Definately something we will be doing again.  I can't wait until they are old enough to bring along some board games or something for the down times!

Tuesday morning, heading out.  What a fun time!!

It wasn't quite Disney, but I would say Staycation 2012 was a success.