Camping!

We had a fun camping trip with everyone from our old babysitting swap. The kids had a great time playing together again. We enjoyed beautiful weather and good company.

We went to Prince William Forest and stayed in cabins that were used by the Office of Strategic Services, America's first intelligence agency, to train intelligence operatives during World War II. They were kind of creepy cabins. I arrived earlier in the afternoon before anyone else and me and the girls were the only ones around. It was really peaceful, but also a little eerie surrounded by all these old cabins.

During the night, an acorn would drop on the roof every few minutes and it sounded like a loud knock. Everyone emerged from their cabins in the morning feeling a little weary. Between acorns and crying children and loud birds at our window, it wasn't exactly a restful night, but camping was never intended to provide a restful night. The sounds of nature can be rather annoying.


While we waited for everyone else to arrive, Amelia and I made clues for a treasure hunt.


Upon arrival, we learned that you couldn't drive to the cabins. So we had fun hauling all of our stuff in these wagons.


Ethan and Amelia hitch a ride.


Jonah and Elsa






The kids check out their first clue on the treasure hunt.


Running to find the next clue...


Amelia, Taryn, Ethan, and Lizzie


They found the treasure and wanted to take it somewhere "private" to open it.


Discovering treasure!


S'mores!!


Elsa was a complete mess the whole time. She must have taken a tumble every 5 minutes...off the picnic table, off a camp chair, off steps...she ended up with a lovely scrape on her nose and forehead. She LOVED being outside though.


Amelia and I watched a movie at night in our cabin, although she fell asleep about 2 minutes after her head hit the pillow.


Elsa probably had a hard time sleeping because she was placed next to this creepy cabinet.




Alaina, Jonah, Elsa, Meg




Sharon, Jill, me, Sarah



Everyone headed out before noon, but Amelia REALLY wanted to go on a hike. By the time we drove the three minutes to the trail head, Elsa was asleep. I was feeling pretty tired, but Amelia insisted. So we loaded up Elsa and headed down a trail. I'm glad Amelia pushed me to go because it was really beautiful and there were only a few people on the trail. She kept saying "see, isn't it wonderful to go on long walks when you're camping? I just LOVE going on hikes when I go camping..."








Amelia stretches before heading back up the trail.




After baths and cleaning, the girls were back to business at home.

(Four weeks down, one more to go before Ben makes an appearance on the blog again! My mom arrives tonight to keep us company.)