This past weekend we packed up and drove north of Chicago to the Sugar River Preserve campground, almost on the Illinois/Wisconsin border. We met Brad's cousins and Aunt and Uncle there for a fun weekend. We had intended to start camping with the boys next summer, but decided to get a head start by meeting everyone last weekend. This was our first true camping trip. We have camped at Wilderness State Park in their rustic cabins before, but never in a tent roughing it. Brad ran out and bought a tent. I guess 'tent' is an understatement. It's bigger than a hotel room. It turned out great because we could fit the boys on a queen blow up mattress on one end and we had ours on the other end. We'll be all set for rainy days camping next summer. If you know my family history, rainy days are a given. 
We chose a campsite away from a large group of partiers celebrating Halloween early. We were right on the river. During the day it was beautiful. The sun was out and it reached the low 60's. The problem was when the sun went down. It got down to the very low 40's. This made for a very cold, very long, night. The boys weathered it like troopers. We piled on plenty of layers of sleeping bags. We all enjoyed a roaring campfire, and especially the smores.
For breakfast Sunday morning, Luke decided he would check and see if the camping stove was hot enough to start cooking pancakes....it was!
The whole crew at breakfast. Mike makes great pancakes! You can see how close the river was to us. 
After breakfast we took a hike through the woods. Logan wanted to lead the way.
Logan thought this pose up himself. He called me over to take his picture. Luke jumped in too, and luckily Logan agreed. Logan's on the left and Luke on the right. No, I don't always dress them alike, but they love their sweatshirts from Grandma and Grandpa.
Jack liked the pose too, so he jumped up to have his picture taken too.
We did family photos at a scenic spot. Here are Mike, Cindy, Todd, and Jodi.
Here are Jim, Karen, Max, and Maggie.
...and finally, our crew. We put 13 hours into driving for this trip and it was worth every minute. We enjoyed spending time with family we only get to see a couple times a year. We soaked up the beautiful weather, before long we'll be buried in snow. To the rest of you...we now own a tent and will be coming your way soon!
3 comments:
With that tent, it's a good thing you didn't have to hike to your campsite! I can't wait until Calum is old enough to go camping.
Wow. That IS an impressive tent. Now you're compelled to go camping, just to use the tent, right? Hmmmm. Maybe I can talk my guy into making a camping trip next summer . . .
Kids are enjpying their camping trip to the top of their level.
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