In Gary Smalley's book "For Better Or For Best: Understanding Your Husband" he interviewed more than thirty families who were extremely fulfilled in their inner-family relationships. The families were diverse in their geography, social status, and economic bases. But the families had two things in common, one was their concern for their family's togetherness, and the other was their love for camping!
I can not say that I was an enthusiastic camper-to-be when Brad first brought up the idea of our family camping together. I am not a big outdoorsy girl and I did not grow up in a camping family, though we did have plenty of other mishaps on family vacations (missed airplanes, mini-van break downs, lost deposits because of too many cherries eaten, burnt legs from mufflers, sunburns, bad directions, etc...) that brought us together on our family vacations! :-) I shared some of my family vacations mishaps for the benefit of all of my non-camping friends! There are no worries, you too can experience "family togetherness" with or without camping!! :-)
But I wouldn't surprised if you rethink the idea of camping after reading our post; you probably will want to join us next time!!!
In the morning, Faith found some sticks to try to help her daddy make a fire. We woke up at 6 AM to the birds singing in our ears; the Glenn's are on a different schedule than us, and slept in a little past 8 AM. So we had a little extra time to explore Deep Creek State Park as a family in the morning.
Smalley had never been inclined toward camping, but because of his discovery, he decided it was worth giving camping a try. In Smalley's personal experience he realized that camping together as a family is one of the best ways to deepen family relationships: “Camping is wonderful because there’s at least one major disaster that in the end brings you all together.” :-)
I can not say that I was an enthusiastic camper-to-be when Brad first brought up the idea of our family camping together. I am not a big outdoorsy girl and I did not grow up in a camping family, though we did have plenty of other mishaps on family vacations (missed airplanes, mini-van break downs, lost deposits because of too many cherries eaten, burnt legs from mufflers, sunburns, bad directions, etc...) that brought us together on our family vacations! :-) I shared some of my family vacations mishaps for the benefit of all of my non-camping friends! There are no worries, you too can experience "family togetherness" with or without camping!! :-)
But I wouldn't surprised if you rethink the idea of camping after reading our post; you probably will want to join us next time!!!
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My Camping Story: :-)
I am not accustomed to ALL the work that camping requires (the packing alone is a big chore) and quite honestly, I did not understand how camping could be a "relaxing" experience. My impression was it looked boring and uncomfortable (who likes sleeping on the ground while being eaten by mosquitoes?)!
But I am happy to report that my camping experience really surprised me; I had a great time and I am planning on doing it again. Shocking, I know! But sleeping on the ground isn't too bad when you have an air mattress and there were NO BUGS biting me!
The only thing that I wish I prepared myself for was the temperature changes at night...IT WAS COLD (below 50 degrees)!
I enjoyed the adventure with my amazing husband and kids and loved the company we shared. Thanks Glenn Family for letting us camp with you guys!
The first night when we arrived at the camp-site, we could not find Anna's bag of clothes and diapers and thought we had left it at home. DISASTER! I panicked because I knew it was going to be a COLD night (we only discovered this after arriving) and Anna was only in shorts and a short sleeve shirt.
Thankfully, Naomi came to the rescue with an extra set of warm camo jammies that she had brought for Oliver. It was a little strange to see our baby girl in brown camo. Both Brad and I were a little distracted by it and for a few seconds even thought we had a little boy.
Thankfully, the next morning when it was light outside, we discovered Anna's bag of clothes in our TENT of all places!! It was a black bag and it was so dark outside, so we hadn't realized we had already taken it out of the van and put it in there. In the morning, Anna was quickly back to wearing her traditional girl pink. :-)
In the morning, Faith found some sticks to try to help her daddy make a fire. We woke up at 6 AM to the birds singing in our ears; the Glenn's are on a different schedule than us, and slept in a little past 8 AM. So we had a little extra time to explore Deep Creek State Park as a family in the morning.
My husband, my hero. In the morning, he made our bed in the tent.
Then we enjoyed some cereal and fruit for breakfast.
Then we did a little exploring in the woods.
After our exploring, we came back for a short rest. Anna leisurely enjoyed the kid camping chair.
I love this sweet picture of our three little campers!
After breakfast, getting ready, a little exploration, and resting we headed to the beach!
VIDEO:
Then we visited the aviary, where we saw the "flirtatious owl" and some hawks. Brad was right, an owl can move his head 270 degrees!
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I am always amazed by Brad's wealth of information about nearly any topic. And I think he makes learning so much fun for the girls!
As for me, all that I know is that owls are nocturnal and they like to eat small animals WHOLE! In middle school, I dissected an owl pellet, which is the regurgitated parts of the eaten animal that the owl is unable to digest (bones, fur, etc..). Yuck! I didn't tell the girls that part, but I did tell them that owls like to eat mice.
Then we came back to our camp-site, and the Glenn's were awake! :-)
VIDEO:
Andrew was resilient in his efforts to get a fire going for us. While the boys were admiring the fire, Naomi was entertaining the kids with blowing bubbles!
Madeline watching her daddy's fire making skills in awe!
Beautiful Naomi and little Oliver early in the morning
Our tent was Brad's big Father's Day gift, and he loves it. For one, it is his favorite color orange (he still bleeds Maroon and White though for A&M) and it has two dividers to make it three rooms. Jillian and Faith slept on the left side, we slept in the middle, and Anna slept in a pack-n-play on the right side. We bought it off Amazon for $99.00 and we got a FREE promotional Coleman $30 sleeping bag to go along with it! Hooray for good deals!
The adult camping chair was big enough to hold two sweet girls!
I love Faith's Strawberry Shortcake sunglasses with legs crossed and sippy cup in the cup holder! She is one styling 3 year old camper. :-)
Brad and Andrew enjoyed playing frisbee together.
Faith and Madeline played in our tent with the baby dolls.
In the afternoon, we went to the Discovery Center to see some animals that were stuffed, as well as some live ones!
A big frog!
Garrett County is bear country. We were repeatedly warned to put our food (and trash) in the safe box, so the bears wouldn't come for a visit to see us!
Faith enjoying the smell of a flower.
Faith helping Anna navigate toward the front of the Discovery Center. I love how well Faith takes care of her baby sister.
After the Discovery Center, the kids played with the Glenn's bikes and scooters!
Adorable Madeline with her Strider
Anna loved the grilled corn-on-the cob we had for dinner. We also had hot dogs, grilled beans, with fruit, and earlier in the day we had smores! Yummy!
We had two camp-sites right next to one another but we spent the majority of the time at the Glenn's camp-site, enjoying their fire and eating meals together! We are so happy that we shared this fun with our dear friends.
Anna not only ate her own corn-on-the-cob but she also ate the left-overs!
Oliver playing with his sunglasses!
Video:
Anna and I shared a special "joke" on our three hour drive home together. She and I both would pretend that we were sucking on a pacifier and say"Yum, Yum" and then giggle together. We did this multiple times; I love how kids don't easily get tired of the same thing over and over again. :-)
Video:
Both Jillian and Faith fell asleep in the van within minutes of us being on the road. Anna surprisingly took a little longer to fall asleep. Brad described our trip as "Awesome"! It was a wonderful (a little over) 24 hour camping adventure.
Part 2 of our Camping Adventure will be coming next (I omitted our second beach camping experience, because there were too many great photos to choose from!)
