Camping

For Father's Day and Jeremy's Birthday this year, I decided early this spring to surprise him with a family weekend getaway. I figured with all the stress of moving and new job, it would be fun to get away and see some parts of PA. I managed to keep it a surprise, but a few days before our trip, I had to let Trevor in on part of it. I was a bit worried that the kids might freak out at the prospect of sleeping in a tent, so I set up the tent one day while Jeremy was at work. Trevor was super excited about the idea of sleeping in it, and did a very good job of not telling Daddy.

We arrived at Ohiopyle State Park on Friday afternoon after a quick stop at the outlets to buy Trevor new shoes. (His feet are growing like crazy!) We got our camp all set up, and had a nice dinner outside. My brilliant mom suggested I take my electric skillet to warm up BBQ for dinner!

Our tent's 1st time out in the wild!
(We bought this tent in Montana)

After dinner, we took a walk around the campground to find some different playgrounds. The second one was really neat. The boys had fun climbing on the equipment.

Evan on the balance beam.

Trevor was immediately drawn to this large "rainbow" looking climbing structure. On the first attempt up, he got to the top and was scared. We had to help him down. But he was determined to try again and again. He eventually managed to figure out how to get himself turned around while balancing at the top to come back down the other side. He was so proud of himself! Once he got the hang of it, he must have scaled that thing 6 more times.

The classic Trevor line on his first attempt when at the top was:

"I'm dead. I'm so dead!"

Other classic lines on his second try were:

"I can't do it/I'm scared," and backs down;

"Yes, I can do this," and tries again.

This dialogue continued several times until

he had completely psyched himself up to do it!

Conquerors!

Even Evan had to give it a try.

We didn't let him go much further!

After playing for a while, we headed back to our spot to get ready for bed. It took Evan a while to settle down, but eventually the boys all fell asleep. I, on the other hand, heard some strange sounds outside. We had a pesky racoon who was trying to get into our stuff. Luckily, I had packed things in plastic storage containers. But I still got up and put all our stuff in the car.

Not long after, I could hear thunder in the distance. Then the rain arrived followed by a pretty good thunderstorm. The boys slept through most of it, and handled it well. Another heavy downpour happened near sunrise, and by morning, we were soaked. Wet pillows, wet sleeping bags, and wet clothes including my bra. Yuck. Luckily, I had other surprise accomodations lined up for Saturday through Monday. Once we were up, we quickly packed up and headed out to explore the park.