Saturday, May 12, 2012

First-ever family camping adventure!

Each year we find something special to celebrate the end of our school year.  This year we decided to try camping -- and what a wonderful adventure it was!  We are so glad to have discovered this now, while we have many years ahead of us in which to go camping together.

For our first foray into the world of camping, we decided to stick close to home.  We camped at Sweetwater Campground on Allatoona Lake (about half an hour west of home).

Here is our beautiful campsite.  We just about had the whole place to ourselves...a perk of going before the season is in full swing. :)


This was our view when we stepped out of the tent our first (very chilly!) morning.

 We enjoyed lots of relaxing together.  We explored the shoreline along our campsite...
...watched the ducks and geese...

  ...fished...
 

  ...those of us with not-yet-fully-developed brains went swimming in the lake... :)
 ...ate lots of good food (why does food eaten outside taste so much more amazing than 'regular' food?!)...
 ...played board games...
 ...learned some new skills, like cooking on a charcoal grill...
...shared dinner and s'mores with friends whom we are trying to recruit as campers for future trips...
 ...and we enjoyed many more sweet moments and had a wonderful, wonderful time.  Last but not least, just before we left the campground, we presented the kids with their annual certificates of promotion -- David has been promoted to 5th grade and Abigail has been promoted to 3rd grade! 
(where does the time go?!)
We took a quick family picture before we left...we looked a little rough by the end of our stay but we were happy!
 One last picture -- this of the kids by the campground sign, standing tall against the posts so that we can take the same picture next year and see how much they've grown!

5 comments:

Delighted Hands said...

Oh, just a wonderful time! I smiled through the whole post! So glad you had a great first trip and I can see many more in your future! So happy for all of you!

Bethany said...

This will be a wonderful new family tradition! It looks like you did camping the right way and with lots of pictures to remember it by. =) Congrats to the graduates!

Amy Friend said...

I'm so glad you had fun. It poured as we set up the tent last year so my memories aren't as fond :)

Debbie Griffin said...

So much fun! We have some amazing camp grounds up this way if you want to venture out a bit more next year! :-)

cj and family said...

So much fun! :) Definitely going to have to try that soon--we haven't gone since Hannah was a baby.