Cadillac Campin' at it's Best!!

This past weekend we went "Cadillac camping" and had a GREAT time! "Cadillac camping" is the term we use when referring to camping in a campground where you can drive up to your camp site, especially if it's a campground with a bathhouse, real toilets and perhaps even hot-water showers!!! Now that's some fancy, shmancy campin'! Normally, John and I hike out on the Appalachian Trail with everything on our backs. And in order to avoid hauling 100 lbs around on your back, you tend to pack very lightly, bringing only what you need and even then you second and triple guess that list and eventually leave most of it behind. You eat lots of Cliff bars and trail mix. If you get fancy, you can buy some of those freeze dried meals in a bag at REI or Dicks. They're actually quite good. And you pack a water filter so that when you come across a stream you can refill your water supply without the threat of contracting various water born diseases! Now that's adventure! ;) "Cadillac camping," on the other hand, is where you drive up in your car and unload every little thing you ever dreamed you maybe, possibly could sort of need as long as it all fits into or on top of your car. And I won't even go into the possibilities if you own a camper! That's like living in the Ritz!

So, anyway, we went "Cadillac camping" for the first time in years (which should explain my excitement)! We packed our mack-daddy 8-man tent, camping chairs (two big ones for us and two pint-sized ones for Jared and Abigail). Thankfully, my mother-in-law kept Rachel for us. Having a go-go-go 16 month old at a campground on a lake would NOT have been a relaxing vacation!!! We packed our Coleman stove, 5 gallon water jug, hammock (which ended up not getting hung because we were too busy doing other things). And best of all, we brought TONS of food!!!

When you hike out on the AT, your eating trail mix and cooking only what is necessary over a little bunson-burner type of stoves. When you "Cadillac camp," the possibilities are endless!!! I remember growing up camping with my family - I'd wake up and Mom was already up, standing at the little Coleman stove cooking eggs and bacon. So that's what I wanted to do. We camped with another family from our church group so we split the food assignments and boy did we eat good! For breakfast we had big ol' bacon/egg/sausage/cheese toasted bagels and English muffins, pancakes, and Cinnamon buns. Granted they weren't much to look at as they were cooked over this little stove with limited hi/low capabilities... it was more like hi/HI or off. But we ate so good!! The food, our day on the lake with great friends, and the big mack-daddy tent with a blow up mattress under our sleeping bags made for an awesome trip. The weather was awesome. We cooked s'mores over the campfire. We spent the day on the lake tubing and having a blast. Our friends' kids were similar ages to our kids and boy did they ever hit it off!! And that in itself made things even easier on us because the kids were constantly engaged, playing, having fun and not getting into trouble. Wow! I can't wait to go again! Here are some photos of our awesome weekend:

We got there Friday night and set up camp. I thought this photo was cute. Mama Bear, Daddy Bear and two wee-little bears...

The view out the back of our tent Saturday morning. The lake is currently so low that you can walk out a loooong ways from the normal shore line.

After a great breakfast, we all hopped into the boat and took off. All of the kids piled up front to ride in the bow. It's always fun to ride up front with the wide open view, the full force of the wind, not to mention how the front bounces much more over the waves than the back. The girls were holding on tight, having a blast, and whenever we slowed down and weren't bouncing as much, Corine would start bouncing up and down trying to make the boat bounce! This girl is going to love roller coasters when she gets bigger!

Daddy and Jared on the tube.

Daddy and Abigail on the tube with Mommy driving. No, I'm not mad, just concentrating. It's the first time I've driven the boat this year with tubers. You have to watch the lake for other boats, watch the speedometer to make sure you're going fast enough, but not too fast. Thankfully the other adults in the boat are responsible for keeping an eye on the tuber! Push the throttle to speed up, but watch it closely because it's a delayed response so all of a sudden you're going too fast and have to back it down. Scan the water for where you're about to make a turn - wide turn to avoid zipping the kids off the line and into a tumbling derby they'll later need therapy for. Now you realize you've slowed down too much. Scan all around for other boats. Check speed. Gotta speed up through the turn because the boat slows down during turns. Scan water ahead for any debris/obstacles (aka trees sticking up that would normally be WAY submerged during normal lake levels) so that you don't crash the boat or drag your tuber over the limbs/stumps sticking out of the water (we nearly did that when Kent was on it!). Scan for boats, speed up, make turn, don't turn too hard with kids on or go ahead and turn harder with John on (he loves a good sling-shot-past-the-boat kind of ride). Scan for debris. Watch speedometer and slow back down. Scan for boats, scan for debris, check speed, try to steal a quick glance at your victim hanging on for dear life behind you... You get the point. So, needless to say that when John was on and I was really zipping it around this way and that, I had to tell the kids, who were trying to offer me commentary on Daddy's awesome performance and telling me to look at Daddy, "I can't talk right now! Mommy's trying to concentrate on her driving! Tell me later!"

A closer shot of Daddy and Abigail.

Kent's turn.

Watch him Go!

Kent with Conner.
Kent with Corine.

My turn! Whoo Hoo!!

Jenny's turn with Conner.

Time to anchor and have lunch. We put the top up and enjoyed sitting back while the kids played for at least two hours. Jared skipped lunch and just played and played and played!!! After Conner was done with his sandwich he hopped in and those two boys were nothing but a set of constant giggles and squeals as they kept playing on the tube, flipping it over, trying to climb on the other float, flipping it over, etc etc etc. Boy, I remember the days of having that much energy... I wish we could siphon off a little from the kids every now and then just to help us keep up with them! Meanwhile, us lazy adults got to sit back with our feet up for a while and just talk.



Time to ride again. Where do all of the kids choose to sit? Up front, of course!!

We finished off our day with a little feeding frenzy. There's one cove you can go to near the dam where you will always find lots of geese ready for a snack. One wave of the arm like you're throwing something into the water and they all come paddling as fast as their little webbed-feet will go. The kids always love this part.

Back at camp, we grilled hot dogs and hamburgers. And, well, we would never consider going to bed without roasting marshmallows over the campfire and making s'mores!!! Yum Yum!!!

Oh and after a day like this, we didn't have to fuss at the kids even the first time to be quiet and go to sleep... they zonked out as soon as their heads hit the pillow! Actually, so did we!!

Aaaaahhhh!!! These are the days that memories are made of! I can't wait to go again! The kids were asking when our next camping trip would be before we even packed up good on Sunday morning. I think they like camping!!!