Beth, Steve and Family!: Camping Trip

For Labor Day weekend, we went camping to Pickerel Point Campground in Promised Land State Park in PA.

Bethany and I were up late on Thursday getting things packed and together. We’d planned ahead well but the week was busy with Bethany trying to get into school to get her classroom ready and my late hours as I wrapped up a few issues in preparation for the start of school when we got back from camping.

We had already dropped off our stroller at Mom & Dad’s earlier in the week so we wouldn’t have to leave room for that. Friday morning, we needed to drive two cars over because we had a couple items that couldn’t quite fit! (That’s with the trunk packaged and the hitch carrier full.)

This year, Bethany and I bought chairs to take (rather than using our lawn chairs) and bought cots for ourselves (because there’s only so much floor space in the tent). I knew it would be a problem, but the chairs and cots took up about a third of our trunk space. Fortunately, we were able to get almost everything together and the remaining items went up with Tim or my parents.

Our plan was to go boating on Saturday, explore the State Park on Sunday, and pack/drive home on Monday…

[You can click on any of the pictures and browse this gallery in SmugMug if you’d like.]

Friday – Arrival, setup camp

Noah checks out his pack-n-play in Granny’s tent

Lilly and Aunt Lauren

Lilly kept talking to Noah and he would just laugh and laugh and laugh!

Saturday – Boating Day

The kids woke up at 6:00am with the sun. It took a lot to explain to them we’d need to stay in the tent and be quiet so as to not wake the neighbors. Bethany took them out to get showered at the bath house, then out for a walk to keep them entertained until everyone else woke up.

Josiah wanted to make sure I had some of his orange juice!

Tim lost a bet and so was the first one to get into the water. Lauren, who won the bet, was pushing him in and he grabbed her as he fell in. After the two of them, Josiah and I were next. We got in the tube and made an attempt but it didn’t work out too well. We didn’t want to go too fast for him but going too slow made it hard to keep the tube stable. We ended up flipping over shortly after getting started. The sad part is that I didn’t think to explain to Josiah he’d need to let go of the handles when we flipped over. He was diligently hanging on despite getting dragged in the water. To no one’s surprise, he had his fill of tubing immediately after that.

Aunt Michelle and Noah

Josiah supervising the tubers…

Josiah and Mommy

Tim and “Red Boat”

On my knees on the tube, no hands. Just sayin’

Lilly fell asleep and Beth laid her down in the back to get some shade and rest. Lilly slept like this for what seemed like an hour or two. At lunch, she was still sleeping. Josiah rubbed Cheese Curls on her mouth to see if she wanted any. It was funny when she woke up with orange cheese powder on her face.

Some of the gang during lunch

Deploying or recovering a tuber

Josiah giving a big thumbs-up

Josiah keeping tabs on everyone and barking orders in the walkie talkie.

Josiah and Mommy

Sunday – Exploring the State Park

We were hanging out at breakfast and Josiah was getting into the firewood. Rochelle grabbed the camera and took this picture (and the one below) as Josiah went about his business. [You can see an adult foot and arm on the left – he wasn’t wandering around with the camp axe unsupervised!]

This picture shows our tent on the left and Mom & Dad’s tent on the right. You’ll also see our beloved Bob Duallie stroller in the picture. The other site was off to the right and there was a short path between them.

We went to the swimming area in the afternoon. Noah was crawling around on the blanket (and then opted for the grass) and I got these few pictures. He couldn’t have had more fun!

Aunt Michelle rented a pedal boat and took Lilly with her. You can see the difference between the bottom of Lilly’s feet and the pedals!

Unlike Lilly and Aunt Michelle, Josiah was determined to help Daddy Steve pedal the boat. We’re told that he tried every way possible to help.

Monday – Packing up

A quick preface… Bethany was scheduled to make breakfast on Monday morning and we expected the kids’ early rising to help make the day go smoothly. The forecast wasn’t bad (some rain later morning) and we figured we’d be in good shape.

Does anyone have any reason to trust the weather forecast?

It started raining at maybe 8am and didn’t stop all day (or at least before we left). Everything was soaked! Fortunately we kept most of our things in the tent and well organized. For those things, it was a matter of shuttling them to the car and getting them packed.

You may remember from earlier that the car and hitch carrier were completely full. Yeah. The tent and our chairs were packed all the way in the back so they certainly weren’t going to be repacked that way (since the tent was keeping Bethany and the kids dry and the chairs were drenched). I ended up using a large tarp to cover the back half of the car, the trunk, and the hitch carrier to provide some cover while I packed. That let me take the time I needed to squeeze everything in just right.

At some point through the morning, the group opted to go out for breakfast and wait out the rain. We went into town and ate at a diner where we all enjoyed a roof, air conditioning, and somebody bringing our food to us! The rain never let up and so we went back and got back to work.

I was glad to have spent 99 cents on disposable cheap ponchos. While it wasn’t comparable to rain gear, it helped keep me from getting too soaked. We got everything packed but the tent and then evacuated the kids to the car. I hated wrapping up the brand new tent in such a hurry and soaking wet but there wasn’t much choice. [Today, almost a week later, I set the tent up to dry it out and clean it up. There were still large puddles of water on the floor of the tent!]

We got packed up and headed home, as did a ton of other people! We rerouted our trip home several times to avoid bad traffic. We were exhausted when we made it to our house at 8pm!