my first time camping with kids...

and it went really well! even with an active nearly 9 month old

i took this shot to show our entire camping party. there's us right up front, then the hetzlers through the trees straight ahead with the car and blue tarp; then the mellengers just to the left with the minivan.
we were located right beside the playground and on the path to the beach, so our friends passed by our camp to go to those places.

here are derek and diedre waking up in the tent on Saturday morning.

and ezekiel ready to get at 'er.

here is a video of diedre after just waking up and looking for David. we arrived much later than our camping party so the kids were all tired and got put to bed within the hour of our arrival. so diedre was pretty disappointed. she did okay but when she woke up she wanted to make a beeline to see her friends. she was so excited.

Derek made a Toddler Carrier for our cold girl on Saturday morning.

David and Gabe enjoying breaky.

ezekiel is happy to see some friends too.

Diedre and David hit the slide.

ezekiel tries to eat some dirt.

if he had something in his hands to chew, he was much less likely to eat dirt.

Gabe and Joanna go for a bike ride.

Diedre got alot of time on her trike. she has been riding around our house (inside) but our street is no good for biking. she was very excited to ride her bike on a "trail". she kept saying that the day we were packing up to go. she actually woke up Friday morning saying, "i need my bike. and my hat [helmet]. i ride on a trail."

heather and poppy





new bikini (i went to Zellers and bought 2 bathing suits at 30% off for Diedre, size 3 and 4 b/c she is growing so fast!! i bought her a size 3 one piece mid-summer and its already too tight).

me (in my monokini) and zeke. he peed on my side 3 times before we hit the water. it was too cold.

derek looking like an old school wrestler/bog monster.

the fam (diedre's suit comes with a sun shirt too).

the smile at the end of the video


diedre wants to help ezekiel slide

cute cousins

cute baby cousins (9 months & 6 months)

super happy poppy

as for sleeping arrangements: i was planning on sleeping in the van with ezekiel since we are co-sleepers more than not at this stage. however, last week i started putting him down for naps more consistently in his crib. so for camping, i tried putting him down in the playpen, and he would go down without a fuss. he went to bed in the playpen too very easily (yay!!!) and i had my evenings free (how strange...). anyway, so i decided to sleep in the tent, with him in the playpen and i'd bring him beside me when he woke for nursing (and then he'd sleep beside me the rest of the night). it worked really well the first night. second night he woke up way too many times so i was super tired. but we were just packing up to leave anyway, so it wasnt a big deal.

another nice thing was derek and i bought travel sized Bodum coffee presses from Starbucks. they were awesome and i was very glad to not have to go without coffee.

we are going to ontario for 10 days soon and to a family reunion during that time. after having this camping experience i have much more confidence that it will go really well.