One down, Four More to Go!

No, I am not referring to chocolate bars. Or to kids in bed. Or to exams. Or to push-ups. I am speaking of camping!!!! That's right!! We have enjoyed our first camping trip of the year! And you read that right.....we still have 4 more to look forward to! We are making up for last summer, that's for sure!

We left last week Thursday for a 6 day stay at MacGregor Provincial Park. If you ask Keziah where we stayed, she'll say "Mr. MacGregor's!!" (yup, a little too much of Peter Rabbit lately :o). We picked this time of year because we knew the park would be fairly empty due to the fact that most public schools are still going. And I think we will do this every year. What a great time to camp!

Off we go! We are ready...sunglasses on and fingers in mouth. All set!

With Lincoln a bit of a wanderer, having our play yard stretched out across the front of our campsite was a safe way to keep him contained. And actually, at one point it was open, which made him quite upset about it. It had to be closed!

That didn't mean he didn't try to open it himself though.

Who needs toys when you have neighbours to watch?!

I think we were set up for all of 20 minutes before this happened:

The first few days were a bit tough for Lincoln as that is when his molars decided to work their way through his gums. He didn't complain much but was pretty feverish and didn't eat a thing. He would also walk around with his mouth clenched tight like this:

It was a very quiet few days with his mouth so sore and clenched! He spent lots of time just sitting with daddy.

But he was still able to enjoy our camping activities. Going to the beach was a whole lot more fun this time around than last year. Last year he was crawling and thought every sand grain, stick and stone was to be put into his mouth. Not this year. So we enjoyed lots of beach days!!

My men are so alike.....they can sleep anywhere!! They both had a nice long one hour nap at the beach.

One time we were there, we could watch the grader for the sand, much to Lincoln's delight!

But for the most part, all Lincoln thought that was to be done at the beach was eat (once his mouth felt better). He would go into my beach bag looking for food every 2 minutes. And if I wouldn't give him any, he wasn't too shy to go to anybody who he saw was scrounching around in their beach bag!

Back at the campsite, a lot of books were read:

We even had the pleasure of friends visiting us! And as if that wasn't fun enough, that is when the s'mores came out!! Mmmmm!

And not only did friends visit, but we visited some friends as well. Friends that had kittens!!!! That is a very big deal if you are 3!

Ah, yes, a lot of memories made in those 6 days. We are thankful for the opportunity to go and spend time together as a family - a family of four. That still gets me every time. While we reminisced fondly about our times camping when we were a family of two, having two little ones has definitely brought a whole new dimension to holidays. Gone are the days of sleeping in past 7 in the morning, but here are the days that are filled with little things that are taken in by wonder. And that innocent wonder of all things 'new', be it big or small, can't help but capture you and take you in, so that you also may sit back and notice the tiny caterpillar or the cloud that looks like a dinosaur, things you may not have seen before.

We praise God for blessing us when we were a family of two, to relish our time together as best friends. And we now praise Him for blessing us with two little ones, allowing us to see and marvel at life through the eyes of a three and one year old.