Morrow Mountain Camping Trip

*Edited to add:

Campfire Stories:

While driving back from pool on our first day camping the following conversation occurred:

Jackson:  "Daddy, you save the day!"

Daddy:  (laughs)  "Thanks, bud."

Mommy:  (laughing) "Why does he save the day?  Is Daddy a Super Hero?"

Jackson:  (matter-of-factly)  "No, he's just changing the world."

Since Jack was the only boy his age he had to compromise with the girls on playtime.  He preferred to run around chasing bugs, throwing rocks, and playing in the dirt by the campfire.  Riley and Katelyn gladly joined him most of the time, but there were also times where they just wanted to take out Riley's new Polly Pockets and play pretend with them.  At one point Jack and Kate were sitting in their camp chairs and Kate was dressing a Polly Pocket.  Jackson picked up another doll and, resigned, sat down to try to figure out the fun in dressing and undressing little plastic toys while pretending they were real princesses.  I saw him struggling to put the clothes on his doll and then he jumped up and appeared as though he were looking around for something he'd lost.  Finally, he turned to Kate and said,

"Where is the underwear to cover his penis?"

Kate replied, "Girls don't have a penis.  Only boys have a penis."

And Jack, naturally, replied, "I have a penis!  Here, I'll show you."

And that's when my third party observations ended so I could run over and stop him from getting his shorts down far enough to show Kate the goods.  

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Last week Justin took Thursday off from work and we headed up to beautiful Morrow Mt. State Park along with two other families (the Burgess's and Johnston's) for two days of camping fun... Not a bad way to kick off the Fourth of July weekend! :)  It was our first camping trip of the year and therefore Norah's very first experience in the great outdoors.  She loved it!  We are very much looking forward to returning soon!    

We finally got to unbox Justin's Christmas present... A tent large enough to fit our family now and for at least two more kids.  :)  It did a great job keeping us snug and dry from the unexpected rain that surprised us at night and was a snap to put up and take down!  

Below:

A van full of supplies for one night of camping.  Wow.  LOL!  What would the pioneers say? :)

Good morning, sleepy head!  Little Miss slept beautifully all night long and was perfectly content to watch all of the kids run around during the day.  What a sweetheart!

After an afternoon at the nearby swimming pool (the lake was reserved for boats only due to a dangerous current) Eddie was out before we even had the car seat buckled on the way back to camp.

Jack, Riley, and Kate 

The minute we pulled into our camp site Jack was out of his seat and ready for an adventure!  He was such a great helper and was so excited to finally be camping (and not in the living room!).  He'd been praying since our last camping trip last summer for us to go camping again soon.  It's so fun to enjoy the kids' excitement. :)

This picture cracks me up!  He looks like a deer caught in the headlights (and eating purple licorice). ;)

Jack, Riley, and Kate found a millipede making its way through the leaves.  Clearly one of the highlights of our trip for the kids. :)  (I wish bugs made me that happy! :)

The Big Boys - Eddie, Jack, Tyler

Heartbreakers every last one of them!  (Mini-Heartbreakers not pictured:  Josh Burgess and Will Johnston.)

In Transformer terms Justin would be "Ultra-Prime Magnus Heartbreaker" :)

(I'm a dork.  A dork with a son obsessed with Transformers.  So cut me some slack. ;)

Upon arriving at our campsite Norah immediately had a massive blowout IN her car seat.  Luckily, our campground was equipped with a bathroom where I could rinse out her clothes and car seat.  In the meantime (since her spare clothes were still packed underneath all of our camping equipment) this little bird got to soak up the fresh mountain air sans clothes and was all smiles about it! :) 

Mommy and her boys enjoying the beautiful night and the crackling campfire.  (We had already had strawberry, toasted coconut, and caramel vanilla s'mores for dessert, but Nellie also made a peach cobbler in their dutch oven.  Y.U.M.

Deliverance has nothing on the deer of Morrow Mountain!

One of the most memorable things about our trip has to be the deer.  They would appear out of nowhere and be eerily close.   Sometimes there were two or three and sometimes just one would make its way quietly and slowly through our campsite.  I'm not going to lie - it kind of gave us the creeps.  We were told by the camp director that they're very forward because they're used to being fed (a BIG No-No!) by tourists.  

Eddie enjoyed camping MUCH more than he did last year when he was still strapped in his stroller or baby carrier much of the time.  He was more than happy to tag along with the older kids or play with his buddy Tyler.  So fun!

Overall we had a great time and left telling ourselves that we simply shouldn't wait so long between camping trips!  The one dark spot in our trip occurred Friday morning when Jackson burned his index finger pretty badly on what he thought was a dead coal.  The poor little guy cried for at least an hour and only stopped once he'd finally cried himself to sleep in his car seat.  Justin drove to a nearby town for numbing spray, but there's not much that can make a bad burn feel better quickly.  (Besides a Transformer band-aid which I totally forgot to pack.  What was I thinking?!)