Camping

This weekend we went camping for the first part of spring break. We had such nice weather (even though it is snowing as I type this!). Stephanie and Jose came for the first night, and then Erin and Lee were there for the second night. We went to Victoria Bryant State Park and stayed in tents, and this was our set-up:It was pretty nice for tent camping, and we didn't have to worry about the possibility of rain or anything since we had a covered platform for the tent. This was taken before Steph and Jose got there, so we had one more tent in there before it was all over. The first night it got pretty cold, although Andy acted like we were crazy for freezing.I think my favorite part of camping is the food. We grilled steaks the first night and had fried potatoes and a yummy salad. Then the next morning we had eggs and bacon and sausage and hashbrowns and pancakes. It was so good! Here's Andy washing dishes:We even managed to squeeze a birthday party in for Erin (almost a month late!), so here's Steph lighting candles and her getting ready to blow them out:I was trying to take a picture of the kids, and Drew and Evan were acting like their normal selves, not able to do anything without wrestling and aggravating each other, and Alli just sitting there putting up with it. Here are a few pictures of the natural progression of their little fight:After that, Steph and Jose had to go home, and the rest of us went on a little hike. It was so nice. There's water that runs through the park, and we all got pretty hot, so the kids loved getting in the water. There was a little place where the water ran across the road, and then we came up on a place where the water ran over rocks and sort of made a slide. Here are the rest of the pictures of the hike and some video of the kids sliding. Erin even got in and slid herself. Apparently the water was pretty cold based on their reactions.

We had such a great time, except for the unbelievable amount of pollen and Andy's allergies. Even Alli's eyes were a little swollen by the time we left. We originally reserved 2 camp sites, and ended up cancelling one of them, but since it was just a couple of days before the trip we couldn't get our money back. So, we just decided to move the reservation to the 4th of July. I don't know if we'll go then because of the heat, but we'll definitely be going back at some point this year!