Camping

Sean and I love camping, but for a billion different reasons, we haven't been in the last four years!  Okay, we really just haven't taken the plunge on camping with kiddos yet.  We swore at the beginning of the summer that we would absolutely go camping at least once.  We had wonderful ideas of going to the mountains for a long weekend of camping and it was going to go great.  Well, slowly but surely, the summer filled up and we kept postponing and we found ourselves facing labor day weekend (the unofficial end of summer) having not braved the tent.  So, we did an impromptu camping trip at the pond on Saturday night.  Sean and the kids went early for a day of fishing while I worked and then I met them up there to help set up camp and enjoy the evening.

Uncle Jonny and Jackson had enjoyed the day of fishing too, and the kiddos ate some snacks while we got the fire going:

 Sean and Finn continued with evening fishing off the dock before dinner:

 We enjoyed dinner on the boat:

 A pontoon boat is really perfect for keeping one wild child within a defined area.  She still got up to antics with her favorite dog, "YiYee"

 Finn took this one:

 Family pic:

 Night time around the fire.  Josette is quite tired by this point, but still fighting to stay in the fun.  We also didn't realize that labor day in the Live Free or Die state means a big party and lots of fireworks:

 Marshmallow roasting:

 And, we made it through the night!  Josette finally fell asleep in the ergo.  Finn was really tired to, so he and Josette and I crawled in the tent on the air mattress and Lily quickly curled up at our feet.  This is when it became quite evident that our sweet tent that Sean and I have had since our honeymoon might not fit us all.  Sean went old school and slept outside.  The night was filled with people celebrating until around 2 am and then transitioned over to owls and loons and coyotes celebrating.  We were a bit tired in the morning:

 Finn still managed to look cheerful:

 And, back to fishing:

 Josette and I back on the boat:

 There's 2!  Finn managed to catch 8 sunfish that morning and had a blast:

 Josette wanted to take the boat for a spin:

 Camping kids:

Hopefully this will be the first of many, many family camping trips!