This weekend we went on our 2nd camping trip. This time to Black Mountain Campground. We had plans to meet Tim's friend Preston and his family (wife Maria, boys Ray and Thomas and also Preston's parents). Tim & Preston grew up together so his family is like family. We have a great time with them and the boys have a blast together!
The boys school was closed on Friday for a teacher workday so I had grand plans of getting out of town really early....yeah, that didn't happen! It was pushing lunch time before we got out of town so we were later than expected to meet our friends. And, I drove the first two hours of the trip! I've got to get used to driving the camper so I decided to give it a go. Tim was all super nervous like a Dad with his teenage daughter behind the wheel. Eventually he relaxed a bit but then he was bored. He's always the driver, never the passenger. The boys did keep him hopping with snacks and drinks though!
Once we arrived, Tim & Preston scouted out a good campsite for us. The boys explored the woods around us with Ray. It was great to give them a little bit of freedom. Friday night we hung out and had a cookout before calling it a night.
Saturday morning, we played around camp for a bit (our boys are MUCH earlier risers than Preston & Maria's!), had muffins and explored the meadow and stream. Once everyone was up and at 'em, we got together for a hike to the waterfall. The boys loved trying to keep up with Ray (who is a few years older than Eli) and absolutely loved playing in the water at the waterfall. We let them play for a while and I'm not sure how they did it - the water was cold! We enjoyed a snack and then headed back to camp. Cole was falling apart so I took him back for a nap while Tim & Preston took the big boys to play in the river. They had so much fun doing that. I'm not sure who had more fun - Tim & Preston moving rocks and doing their hydronic engineering or Eli & Ray doing boat races and splashing around. Saturday afternoon, it started raining and it kept raining. The boys loved playing in the puddles and running around so that worked out just fine. =) We had another great cookout dinner and the boys were worn out and slept soundly in the rain. I seemed to wake up every 3 hours and it was raining EVERY single time I woke up!
This morning, it was very overcast and still raining. We had planned to go to Mount Mitchell but with the weather just decided to pack it up and head home. All of the tent campers were packed up and gone by 10am. It wasn't much fun packing the camper up in the rain but Tim & I managed. We got it all together and were headed back home before lunch.
We were bummed that we didn't get to do all that we had wanted and that it rained so much but on the other hand, we made the most of our weekend and had a blast. It was wonderful to be out of town, to be in the mountains, to be together and to be with our friends. We decided we will have to make it an annual event with Preston & Maria. We also enjoyed this campground much more than the last one and expect many more trips in the future!
Feeding the fish - Maria, Thomas, Eli, Ray, Cole
Sweet boys!
Friday night campout dinner
Thomas, Cole & Eli in the play tent
Cole is quite the funny man with his expressions
I love to see what face he will make next!
Friday night bed time
Eli all snuggled in
Exploring Saturday morning
Awesome camp site
The woods behind our site
Cole and Eli had a blast
Daddy & Cole, morning snack
Eli & Mommy, rare Mommy picture!
Told you he's a funny man!
And all into making silly faces
My camping boys
Crazies!
Saturday morning coloring while the rest of the world was still sleeping.
Off to the meadow
They had fun running through this field and racing each other. Eli got mad when I held him back in a race with me and I got a head start. He said I "cheated".
Love the outdoors
Exploring the river
"We just want to touch with our hands" turned into, "oops I fell off and got my shoes wet so now I can get in".
Having fun in the cold water
Jumping off the rock into the water - splash!
My little outdoors boy
Rock jumping
and sitting in the water
All wet!
Not sure what prompted the backwards hat wearing.
Gotta be like brother.
Headed out on our hike
Cole did great hiking
Headed across the fallen tree to the waterfall
Beautiful! See the boys in the bottom left corner?
Eli tried so hard to keep up with Ray.
What a look!
Cole would get to a certain spot and refuse to budge; Daddy had to help him.
Mountain / waterfall loving brothers!
Absolutely beautiful
River play while Cole napped
Boat races
Check out the nice rock paths
Scrambling
We tried to build a fire for S'mores Saturday afternoon but all it did was bring on the rain.
Marshmallows in motion
Pile on Mommy. It was kinda chilly.
Campsite #11 - it was a good one!
Cole got to play his first game of Hungry Hungry Hippos.
He did pretty well.
Then the big boys gave it a go.
Self portrait
A game of Pop the Pig
You fed the pig hamburgers - each hamburger had a number on it, the kids read the number then pumped hat that number of times. Eventually whoever "popped" the pig's belt loose won. It was pretty funny and the kids loved it.
Of course, my boys will find the mud puddles after the rain. =)
Sunday morning yummy camp breakfast
Eaten indoors due to the rain
Acrobat boy Eli - he was doing flips off the dinette seat
Loves his headlamp now that he knows how to wear it / use it
Eli stuffed his pillow in his shirt and said he had big muscles.
Silly face
Family self portrait - weekend home sweet home
Silly face version!
Mommy & Daddy
Hanging out at a rest area.
The boys talked NON-STOP for the 5 hour drive. This was about 4 miles from home. Seriously!! They wore themselves out talking.
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