Camping

It was this time of year we've been looking forward to for months: Our annual camping trip with friends!

It takes like three days to pack and two days to unpack, but it's still worth it, even though it was a short, two night trip. 

We went with three other families, which included some of our favorite friends, and the kids couldn't wait to explore the creek next to our campsite while the adults set up camp.

I liked this creek a lot, because it was not very full and therefore made it very safe for the little kids as well. The big kids didn't even have to be supervised, which felt kind of weird, but also awesome. They just played and played all day long and we had to drag them out in order to remind them to drink water and have lunch breaks.

During our last camping trip back in October, Finn was super clingy to me and didn't want to leave my side. I was shocked about how independent he had become, he loves being outdoors and just did his own thing.

I made shirts for everyone and they said "Life is better when you're camping with friends".

We shared kitchen responsibilities this time around and two families were in charge of dinner one night, and the other two for dinner the next night. 

Being around the trees and outdoors made my heart so happy. It's been a long summer already, and even though it was still in the 90's during the day, it cooled off at night where we were at, when it doesn't in Phoenix.

Stephen is always such a great sport with the kids. They had water wars for what seemed like hours and everyone (but the moms) were soaked in the end.

Look at this attitude, I love this kid!

The big kids tried to catch crawdads most of the day.

I love that dirty face!

Finn kept busy by throwing rocks into the creek.

The boys slept really well in the tent, but even though Finn had his own mattress and sleeping bag, he somehow made it onto my side every single night.

We all wished we could've stayed another night, but the campground was booked. We made these reservations in December, and when I looked at their schedule for next summer, they were already booked out for all the weekends. So crazy. Hopefully we can secure another great group site for next year, because we love camping with our friends.

And I love these people!