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We headed to Torreya State Park last weekend for a practice camping trip in anticipation for our big summer road trip. I had everything packed up and ready to go before I went to get the boys from school, but I had waited to long and had to rush. After I picked up my oldest at 4, we headed to sports authority, because I had decided to get them new hiking shoes. Hadn't counted on them only having two sizes though, so that put a crimp in our plans and led to almost 2 hours of searching stores for shoes. Yikes!
We finally arrived, got set up and I realized I had forgotten my sleeping bag, my pillow and most of my clothes. My clothes were still damp and I had laid them out to take in the car and let air dry, but I forgot them. I tried a new recipe for dinner that night, which was basically a toasted ham and cheese, but the bottom of the bread burnt. We weren't off to the greatest start, but we made great friends with the older couple next to us when they came over to help us start a fire and that made it all worth it. That night was chilly and I learned that I will spend an extra 5 minutes putting almost everything from our picnic shelter away in the car at night so I am not awoken in the middle of the night by little creatures messing with out clean and drying dishes.
The next morning the boys had me up at 6 and it was a challenge to keep them quiet until the 8am quiet hours were over. We headed out hiking by 8:30 and had a great time. Perhaps I underestimated the length of the hike, because we only took two short breaks and we didn't get back to camp until almost 1. The boys had lunch and I even managed to get a quick shower in while they were doing so. Getting them to take showers alone in a strange bathroom that night was interesting to say the least that night though. My two youngest argued about water temperature for about 10 minutes as I stood humiliated outside of the men's bathroom listening to their antics, but several men came out laughing up a storm so at least we provided entertainment.
That night, our friends from next store came back over. The invited us over to their site for popcorn and juice and we brought over our s'mores. The boys took turns making the couple s'mores and then they invited us into their camper for a movie. The boys sadly were too tired to make it through so we called it a night. No middle of the night disturbances on this night though, as I had packed up the kitchen area earlier. We had a great time once we got going and now the boys have some new penpals to write to when we are on the road! It is a beautiful park if you have never been. Spacious campsites with full hookups for $16 and primitive camping locations for $5.
The boys hiking.
View from the campground.
Boys in a historic stone bridge on one of the trails.
The boys goofing off at breakfast.
We finally arrived, got set up and I realized I had forgotten my sleeping bag, my pillow and most of my clothes. My clothes were still damp and I had laid them out to take in the car and let air dry, but I forgot them. I tried a new recipe for dinner that night, which was basically a toasted ham and cheese, but the bottom of the bread burnt. We weren't off to the greatest start, but we made great friends with the older couple next to us when they came over to help us start a fire and that made it all worth it. That night was chilly and I learned that I will spend an extra 5 minutes putting almost everything from our picnic shelter away in the car at night so I am not awoken in the middle of the night by little creatures messing with out clean and drying dishes.
The next morning the boys had me up at 6 and it was a challenge to keep them quiet until the 8am quiet hours were over. We headed out hiking by 8:30 and had a great time. Perhaps I underestimated the length of the hike, because we only took two short breaks and we didn't get back to camp until almost 1. The boys had lunch and I even managed to get a quick shower in while they were doing so. Getting them to take showers alone in a strange bathroom that night was interesting to say the least that night though. My two youngest argued about water temperature for about 10 minutes as I stood humiliated outside of the men's bathroom listening to their antics, but several men came out laughing up a storm so at least we provided entertainment.
That night, our friends from next store came back over. The invited us over to their site for popcorn and juice and we brought over our s'mores. The boys took turns making the couple s'mores and then they invited us into their camper for a movie. The boys sadly were too tired to make it through so we called it a night. No middle of the night disturbances on this night though, as I had packed up the kitchen area earlier. We had a great time once we got going and now the boys have some new penpals to write to when we are on the road! It is a beautiful park if you have never been. Spacious campsites with full hookups for $16 and primitive camping locations for $5.
The boys hiking.
View from the campground.
Boys in a historic stone bridge on one of the trails.
The boys goofing off at breakfast.
At one point on Friday before we broke free of the great shoe search, I just about pointed the car towards home, and that was before I even realized I forgot all of my stuff. It ended up great though and was one of the best weekends we have ever had.
.Perfect attitude and isn't it nice that all's well that ends well? ! You now have a title for decades of family gatherings to come: "the great shoe search". It'll start everyone laughing and contradicting selves in the telling for generations. True stuff of memories!
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