family camping trip

We went on our 1st camping adventure as a family over labor day...it was fun, but a lot of work!  My list of items to pack (and then unpack of course) was a lot longer than I had expected.  I guess there are a lot of necessities to bring along when you're camping with little ones.  I remember camping as a child with my parents at Pla-Mor in Bremen...but in those days I got to just "show up".  This camping as a mom and wife thing is a whole other story!! 

I think the most memorable camping moment would have to be the five foot snake that was making it's way in and around our campground!  And of course this had to happen within the first 15 minutes of us even being there.  While we were putting up the tent (and by we I mean Derek) Derek calls out "look honey, a snake"...  It was right by the tent and only within a few feet from the kiddos who were riding their bikes back into a trail that went from our campsite into the woods.  Needless to say, my friend April and I started swooping up kids under our arms left and right!  Derek did his best to encourage the snake to head back into the woods and then things got back to normal for another 10 minutes or so.  But of course, I was still contemplating how I was going to survive this camping trip with the possibility of snakes lurking all around.  I was a little freaked to be honest.  And then all of the sudden, snake attack #2 is underway...that little sucker didn't go back into the woods at all...but rather around our tent, thru our campsite and right past the picnic table and kids and wrapped itself around a tree in the center of our campsite.  Ahhhh!  Well it became obvious at that point that the snake had to die.  Here we are in the middle of an Indiana State Park bashing in the brains of a harmless snake lol!  Derek did the honors of course.  And then we threw the snake into the woods and then visited him often :) The kids were really curious and I think most of us wanted to make sure it was really dead. 

We did other things on our camping adventure too...we hiked thru a creek, went on wagon rides, took the kids fishing, made tyedye t-shirts, cooked and snacked and roasted marshmallows...all the great camping musts.  All in all, it was a really great weekend.

potty break while on the road

campsite before tent pitching

setting up

satan himself

campsite...
the tree to the left is where the snake spent his final moments. 
you can see he had to slither right past the wagon and food to get there...
ewwwwwww

on our hike...rigby fell asleep before it even started. 
good thing daddy has big muscles :)

in indiana?  i guess so.
rig is still sleeping...lol

and he wakes!

mr. smores is not happy about getting a wipe down

making our tee shirts

someone got a little crazy with the spray paint

oh my goodness this kid is cute!

wagon ride

at the plaground

fishing with daddy...it's obviously rowan's pink pole

i think someone is having a hard time sharing

weee!