The Breuers: Camping

If you know me well, you know I'm not a huge outdoors person. I never went camping growing up, and I can count on one hand the times I've gone camping as an adult. I much prefer luxury hotels. But Joseph loves camping - he went many times with his family while growing up, and he wants to make it a family activity for us. So when our friends invited us to join them on a camping trip, I agreed to give it a try.

We went with three other families (the Brunes, the Edwardses, and the Naughtons), and they each have two children. Two of the other children are also babies (5 and 6 months), so I figured if their moms can handle an infant while camping, I could too. Luckily, we went car camping, so there was a "comfort station" near our site with toilets and showers. I don't think I could have survived otherwise.

Georgia has a ton of great state parks, and we went to Red Top Mountain park, which is only about 45 minutes north of Atlanta. Joseph packed up our stuff, Lola, and Lucy, and picked me up at work Friday afternoon. We made it to our campsite around 6:30. Luckily the Brunes got there early and were able to claim two sites next to each other - and right next to the playground!

The first evening we just ate dinner and hung out around the campfire. The toddlers went to bed early-ish, and we kept the babies up a little later than normal. Joseph put Lola to bed in our tent, and she slept by herself for an hour or two, but then woke up and I had to join her. She was moving around a lot and I think she was confused about where she was. So I went to bed and she slept on the ground next to my sleeping bag. Overall she slept pretty well. She woke a few more times than usual, but she went back to sleep pretty easily (usually by nursing).

On Saturday, we had a lazy start. Everyone got up on their own time and we hung out around the camp. Around 11 we headed out for a "hike". It was more of a walk, since we knew we couldn't go too far with all the kids. Dustin and Kelli gave us their hiking carrier, so Lola got to ride on Joseph's back. She seemed to enjoy it. We walked about a mile through the woods and ended up at Lake Allatoona. It was really pretty, and the weather was perfect. We headed back for lunch, and then spent the afternoon relaxing and playing. The evening was more of the same - dinner and drinking by the campfire.

I would say we were all pretty exhausted (Lucy the most - she did not like being outside all day), but we all had a great time. It was nice to just relax and spend time with our friends. I'm looking forward to doing it again next year (or maybe sooner, if Joseph gets his way).

Here are some photos from the weekend. I realized that I did not take any photos of the adults! I will make a note to do that next time.