Group Camping

Growing up  camped all the time with my family. I loved every single thing about it. The card playing, hiking, swimming, sleeping together in a tent, late nights around the fire pit, and fun meals together. In college I started backpacking in college and truly found my favorite form of camping. Adam and I did a lot of backpacking pre-kid and even took Charlie on a backpacking trip when I was pregnant with Kate. Once Kate was born we started camping each summer. The kids loved it as did I. Adam seem less than convinced that camping with a young family was fun. My good friend Tanya said time and time again, "Camping with a group is way different and better than camping with just your kids." So with some convincing I managed to get Adam onboard with not one but TWO group camping trips this past summer/fall. And we all loved every minute of each trip. These pictures are of a two night camping trip to Calaveras Big Trees. We went with something like 7-8 families and at one point I believe there were 18-19 kids running around in a pack....the way life should be.

The fire pit was huge and awesome. It was a gathering point for breakfast, dinner, and post dinner fun!

 Two of my great friends Tanja and Debbie

 This is a good picture of what time around the campsite looked like. The women chatting, some people  played music on and off, and the kids ran around free.

The boys were in stick heaven...and surprisingly no one got hurt.

Kate had her best friend in the whole wide world. These two frolicked around in their own magical world.

 Alex did amazingly well the whole time. Played wonderfully, followed around the big kids, slept great, and was cheerful every minute

 Most of the kids...

How sweet...

We had a great group hike through Calaveras Big Trees which involved lots of climbing!

 One of our few family pictures of the whole crew

 Alex in absolute heaven in the water

 Charlie was wonderful the whole weekend. He had just cut his leg and so was the only kid/adult that couldn't go swimming. He truly made the best of it never once complaining or feeling sorry for himself. 

 Kate was one of the only kids that swam across this entire lake and back without any floating devices. And she definitely enjoying water playing time with both Richard and as you can see here with Adam.

Adam spending time with his baby boy.

One of the million things I love about camping is the endless opportunities to just be with your children. No phones, work, distractions....just lots of time for conversations and cuddles.

Morning hellos amongst friends.

 She may love pink and at times play with dolls but there is nothing girly girl about this camper. She spent most of her time running with the boys, finding critters and playing in the dirt.

All in all a great place for a large group to camp. We had the whole place, including an area to cook and bathrooms and showers to ourselves... well we shared with bees.

 And a 5 minute drive away we had this small, safe, and clean lake to play in.