Summer Camping

A few weeks ago, we went camping at Promised Land State Park.  We left on Wednesday morning, taking both cars to accommodate all our supplies!

This was our first camping trip with just the 5 of us.  Setting up camp was especially challenging since the kids were not too excited to just stand around watching us setup.  Bethany took the kids swimming at the beach for an hour or two which let me get as much of our site setup as I could by myself!

That first evening went well and the kids slept relatively well at night.  It was hot on Wednesday (90) but overnight it cooled down to more manageable temperatures.  With the sunrise on Thursday morning, the complexity of our trip stepped up.

Thursday morning’s sunrise was at 5:43am.  The kids (and therefore Bethany and I) were awake with the sun.  We kept them confined to the tent (which they seemed to tolerate) for about an hour before giving in and starting the day.  We straightened up the campsite and inside the tent (which was easier in the morning than it had been in the dark the night before) and had breakfast.  Once everything was cleaned up, we went up to the beach for swimming.

Before we knew it, the morning was over and lunch time was coming up fast!  We walked back from the beach, made lunch, and started preparations for an afternoon nap around 2pm.  While our campsite was shaded, there was a small clearing for our tent, picnic table, fire pit, etc.  Without any trees to shade the direct sun on another 90 degree day, the tent was hot!

As you’d imagine, the kids didn’t nap even though they tried admirably.  After a while, we opted to go explore in the car and let them rest in the air conditioning for a bit.  We spent almost 2 hours driving around and even stopped to get some things from the grocery store.  We got home in time to make dinner and hang out at the campsite before bedtime.

Getting ice cream at the Lake Store…

Back at the campsite before bed…

On Friday, we changed plans around and went boating.  We left the campsite early and rented a deck boat from a small marina on Lake Wallenpaupack.  After getting everything situated on the boat, we left the marina and after about 2 minutes, Josiah’s hat blew off into the water.  I circled around to try and find it but after several tries, I gave up.  Josiah was upset and made it clear we weren’t to go fast again.  Out of nowhere, Lilly, serving as lookout at the front of the boat, shouts “There it is!”.  She had continued searching the water for the hat and against odds, found it!  I brought the boat around and then jumped in to grab it.

After a little exploring, we headed back to the marina to pick Bethany’s parents up and then we all headed out for a day on the lake.  Most of the tubing was by the adults but Lilly did take a turn with Bethany.  We didn’t get nearly the pictures we would have liked – there were just too many things to keep track of – but we had a lot of fun.  Despite being just as hot as the previous days, the breeze on the water (and occasional swim) made it the perfect temperature.

On Lake Wallenpaupack…

At the end of the day, we went to the 84 Country Store for dinner before going back to the campsite.  As you’d expect, we all slept great that night!

At 84 Country Store…

On Saturday, we went to the park for a while.  Around mid-morning, Noah started to have a meltdown from his exhaustion.  I took him out for a walk and he laid down on the gravel screaming and crying.  I opted to take him for a drive so he could have some air conditioning and a nice nap.  He screamed in the car for about 25 minutes straight before he finally fell asleep (and then slept for about 3 hours).  We drove around for a while, then went back and picked Bethany and the other kids up, then went back to the campsite.  By the time we got back to the campsite, all 3 kids were asleep!

At the park…

Beth’s parents headed home in the early afternoon (the kids were still napping in the car) and Bethany made us a quick lunch.  As the kids woke up one by one, they ate lunch and it looked like we would have a good afternoon.  About 30 minutes after Noah woke up, he was crying hysterically again and clearly exhausted.

The decision to come home early was a tough one.  It was about 2pm and the weather radio was warning of severe thunderstorms with high winds starting around 7pm.  While the storm should cool things down significantly (the forecast said we’d have days in the mid-70s for the rest of our stay), everything would be drenched.  If we stayed through the storm and then decided to go home, we’d have to wait until everything dried up enough to pack it up.  Since the kids weren’t getting their afternoon nap and were barely getting enough sleep at night, we figured things would deteriorate over the next few days and the best thing for everyone was to head home.

We frantically packed up and loaded the car.  The slight hill from the campsite to the parking lot seemed like a mountain by the time we were hauling up the last few bags.  Racing against the kids patience and the incoming storm made things chaotic.  Thankfully we were able to fit everything in the cars (they’d been carefully packed when we drove up and hastily thrown in for our trip back).

Not surprisingly, the storm never came and the heat didn’t break for a couple more days.  Heading home on Saturday was absolutely the right decision!  We stopped for dinner at McDonalds and the kids got milkshakes (while in their PJs) before finishing up the trip home…