Camping at Holly

Like I mentioned, the Wagners and us decided to take our families camping on Monday night. Tuesday, we packed up the car and were off. Our plan was to meet at 12:30 p.m. But as plans go with kids, we were running a little late and so we finally took off at about 3:00 p.m. The late departure was okay though, because we were only going about 20 minutes away from our house to Holly State Park. So, when we arrived, we set up camp! After that, we were all super hot, for the weather has been in the 90's, which is way hot for MI, so we got the kids suits on and we headed to the lake. we swam, we played in the sand, Lexi got to swing, and we enjoyed good conversation. It was great! This was probably my favorite part of the entire trip. Then, we realized it was pretty late, around 8 p.m. so we decided to head back to camp and eat dinner!

The kids ate hot dogs, cheese puffs, grapes, and mandarine oranges. We had steak, ribs, corn on the cob all courtesy of the wagners, thanks again guys, the food was great! We brought our grill so we had a nice BBQ. We had so much food! Then, we cleaned up and made/ate smores. This was Lexi's first smore experience and it went over well. At first, she didn't want to roast the mallows, she just wanted to eat them, but then, when we showed her we were going to make it ooey gooey and shove it in between two grahams and add chocolate, she was excited about the roasting. She got so messy, but it was worth it because she had a good time. I love smores as well and ate way too many of them, but I can still use the, "I just had a baby and have not started dieting yet" excuse for a couple more weeks, so that is my excuse this time!Anyways, then we looked at the stars while Lexi graciously serenaded us with, "Twinkle Twinkle Little Star" and Whitney sang along too. It was very peaceful. Then, we called it a night.

The sleeping in a tent part was okay. Christine was great. She only woke up once during the night at 3:30 a.m. to eat and then she was out until we woke up in the morning, around 8:30 a.m. Lexi also did okay. The only problem was we were sleeping on an air mattress and Lexi and I's weight were not even, so when I got up to feed Christine, the air mattress moved and caused Lexi to roll off which caused her to scream very loudly. The screaming woke up Wagner's little girl, Zoey. Luckily, Lexi never "woke up" so she went back to sleep and so did Zoey. So, it wasn't so bad. Then, I woke up with 27, yes 27 mosquito bites. I counted each and every one just now and 27 is the grand total. They are from my toes to my head and everywhere in between. They must have attacked me when I was sleeping because when Christ woke up this morning he killed about 5 of them in our tent. Now, if I got 27 you might wonder how many my family got. Well, in all fairness, Lexi and Christine have NONE and Chris has 10. So, I got the most by far. Thank goodness our girls did not get attacked. They must just love adult blood. We all used the same bug repellent too, and yes I was prepared we brought repellent spray and wipes, but apparently it was a waste of money and time putting it on. Oh well, pray the mosquitoes didn't carry Wes Nile and we will  be alright. So, overall, I got more sleep than I thought I would have and we made it out alive.

Today, Wednesday, we woke up, had pancakes, bananas, and oj for breakfast, took down camp and then played for a bit. We went Geo caching, which was actually really fun. I will admit I wasn't too excited about doing it, but it was actually quite entertaining. Lexi even got a toy at one of the spots to take home! Then, we had a picnic lunch. Besides the intense wind, it was a nice lunch. THEN, the guys wanted to have our daughters experience the joy of fishing. So, they gave it a shot. Lexi lasted about 5 minutes, then she was bored. So, it wasn't quite the father daughter bonding experience Chris had hoped for, but at least she got to hold the pole. Maybe next time she will love it more when more fish are biting. After that, we came home, gave the girls baths, Chris and I showered and then we cleaned up and unloaded the car.

It was a short trip, but overall it was a good experience. I am not much of a camper, in fact, I hated it growing up and still am not very fond of it, but I wanted Lexi to experience it. She loves outdoors and getting dirty and playing with sticks, rocks, acorns, etc. so I knew she would love it, and surely she did. I don't know when I will be brave enough to try it again, but maybe in the future when my rich, lawyer husband can get us a rv or something similar we will try again :) Until then, I will hold on to these memories.

Oh, Christine slept most of the time and won't remember any of it, but I took enough pictures to document her presence so that she knows she was there.