Our First Camping Trip

We are starting our Monday coming off of a weekend high. Spirits are a little down in the Newman house this morning as we try and get back into our school routine and return to all things normal. 
In the spirit of reminiscing let's talk about our amazing weekend a bit...

We went on our first camping trip! 

No, we didn't sleep in a tent, thank God in this heat! We left early Friday evening with our dear friends and we headed south for Beaver Lake in Arkansas.
There was a lot of excitement in the car. The moms drove the crazy kids while the dads enjoyed the silence pulling the trailer. (Aren't we sweet, or demented?!)

Without a trailer to pull and managing 0 bathroom stops (amazing mom victory) we had a little bit of time to let the kids play while we waited for the guys.

It was a very LATE night for 4 kids while we set up camp, but we got things done as fast as we could and put those kids to bed. Would you believe they didn't give us a single problem. We were pretty surprised ourselves.



Side note: A bike, a toddler and a hill are not a great combo. I was taking Emily's helmet to her when she had a run away bike accident. I ran as fast as I could trying to catch her but I failed. She smashed into a (small) tree and was virtually unharmed. I however almost had a heart attack and all of this was in the first 10 minutes of us arriving. If I said I wasn't a bit nervous about the rest of the trip I would be a liar. 
With the kids in bed it was game time. Please tell me that I am not the only person who has never played Phase 10?!

The next morning we hit up the play ground, rode bikes, played cards, found a "pet turtle", ate breakfast and more. They didn't stop going for a second. 

The highlight of the trip was the swimming beach. It was the perfect spot to stay cool in the 99 degree weather. We made a late morning trip, went back to the camp site for lunch and headed back to the swim more that afternoon.

 Four very exhausted friends watching Tom and Jerry waiting on dinner.

And it wouldn't be a camping trip without S'mores!

The kids before bed on our second night. Two thumbs up for camping.

Anna snapped this picture right before we started packing things up in the morning. 4 great friends, with so many fun memories of an awesome weekend spent together. 

So thankful for the relaxing weekend away with great friends. We had an awesome time and I am proud to say our first camping trip was a huge success. Maybe next time we will be brave enough to try tent camping... or maybe not ;).

Would you dare to call yourself a camper?