Camping at Hocking Hills

After school got out in early June, we did what I swore I wouldn't do again for at least a decade or two...took the kids (particularly Carter) camping! And guess what! We had a great time! Not only did I go with a prepared mindset that I might not get any sleep, but we went when the tempatures we a bit cooler (than 92 degrees). One other thing that made this a success: camping with friends!

Aaron put this work of art together! This is what it takes for us to camp comfortably for two nights (and there isn't even a kitchen sink in there). Oh, the luggage bag is full on top of the van too! Luckily the Scheideggers had a truck to haul the firewood.

We arrived at our Hocking Hills campsite on Friday around lunchtime. I was nervous about the campsite as I have never been to Hocking Hills before (it's about a three hour drive from home) and we definitely wanted a more private campsite as compared to our Winton Woods experience in 2008. I think we got pretty lucky. The campsite was plenty large for our group and was quite private too. We did have to share with massive amounts of harsh mosquito's though. (Note to self: take really good mosquito repellent if you camp there again. 40+ bites that took nearly four weeks to heal up is NOT fun.)

Anyhow, after we arrived on Friday, we grabbed lunch, quickly set up the tent and then it was off on a river raft ride. The Scheideggers were so kind to help Aaron wrangle Carter & Olivia in the raft while I stayed back at camp with Haylee & tried to finish setting up.

Friday was finished off with more friends arriving (Gammon's), dinner, s'mores & a VERY big thunder & lightening storm. That was a bit scary, but we lived to tell the tale ;)

Carter hanging out at camp. My kids love to dig anywhere they can.




Scheideggers provided awesome s'more supplies (including the roasting sticks).

My kids loved it!
And yes, Carter is still in his swim trunks from going on the river raft ride earlier that day.

We scored a new tent at Costco this year and we love it. How can you not when it can fit three queen sized air mattresses in it? (No, we didn't try, we just read that on the box :)

Look! It was past 3am and Carter was still sleeping (in fact, this was probably going on 7am here). Luckily Carter's sleeping habits have improved slightly since July 2008.

Haylee did pretty good with the sleeping arrangments. Especially considering what I prepared myself for (remember: little to no sleep).

On Saturday, we woke to loads of rain and mud! We were all scared to exit our tents and make plans for the day, but we got lucky. The skies cleared and we got to carry on with all we had planned. After breakfast, we went to Ash Cave. While the "hike" was disappointing (I guess you can't expect much when they say you can take the stroller on it), the cave itself was great!

There was even a wedding!

Back to the cave:

Gorgeous!

Near the bottom of the waterfall.

Near the top of the waterfall.

Didn't want Haylee getting away from us up there.

Olivia at the very top. (See that person in the top right corner of the photo? That's the bottom of the falls.)

Wading in the (very cold) stream at the top of the waterfall.

Heading back down to the cave.

I really wish I had someone take our GROUP picture here.

Bottom of the waterfall.

Haylee squeezing in a short nap on our way back to camp.

Hangin' out at camp.

After our hike, we came back to camp and had lunch, then went to a nearby lake for a little swimming and cooling off.

I am bummed that I didn't take any pictures there as the kids had lots of fun.
After swimming it was back to camp for some dutch oven dinner (by Gammons).

After dinner, the girls put on several performances for us.

Then it was to bed.

Sunday we had to get up and get moving. We all had to be at church by 2pm (that is what happens when all us girls serve in Primary together;) and with the three hour drive, we had to pack up camp and hit the road early.

We had such a great time!

Thank you Gammons and Scheideggers for coming with us!