Crazy Camping Trip

Last weekend the weather was beautiful so we decided it would be the perfect weekend to go camping.  Well, the weather was beautiful but that's about where the fun ended! It was the first time we took all 3 kids camping and Emily's first official camping trip. Again, the power of 3...any 2 of our kids together are fine but when you stick all 3 of them together-look out! We camped at the Lake of the Ozarks and searched until we found a campsite that was a little away from others and a basic site (there aren't as many of those as there used to be!). The one we found was a bit rocky and had a slight hill which we thought would be fine and the area was gorgeous...but several skinned knees and falls later we now know it wasn't be best choice! We also brought Shoney with us to enjoy the camping trip which also proved to be eventful. She must have found something out in the woods because she spent all of  Saturday getting sick in my car and all over our campsite...ulgh. We also tried to get our feet wet at the public beach and thought it was odd that no one else was in the water at all...then Michael found the sign that said they no longer check bacteria levels and swim at your own risk...well no one was really enjoying the sand so off we went to find something else to do! OK, so the positive was that all 3 kids went right to sleep thank goodness! There were several times in this day that we looked at each other and said maybe we should pack up and go home! The best part of the day was eating smores! When we woke up Sunday we decided to go for a hike because lets face it our kids are very early risers and louder than we'd like! The hike was going very well and I felt relief for the first time of the trip...until Emily and I caught up with Michael and the others. Shoney was using her paws to bat at a something and they thought it was flies...of course not, Shoney managed to nose into a bee hive and we were chased on the trail. We couldn't lose the flippin' bees, we kept moving, kids crying and it took forever for the bees to stop. Once we were able to regroup and assess the damage, Who knows how many stings Shoney had, Michael had 5 bee stings, I had 2, and Jacob had 1...somehow Emily didn't have any and I had scooped her up and carried her and Megan was in the lead and didn't look back when we said to get going. Here we are a week later and my stings still itch...speaking of itching, I somehow managed to get over 200 bug bites on this trip as well...and yes a week later I'm still itchy! After finishing the hike (I have to say, our kids were troopers!) we packed up and salvaged the trip with Imo's buffet, ice cream, and new bling for their crocs. So you may be asking...will they ever camp again...the answer is yes of course...but not until next year!

Believe it or not this picture was taken on the trail after the bees! We had decided at this point to tell them we were going to get ice cream after we were done! The trail was pretty because it followed the boundary of the lake and seeing the water 

Jacob was trying to help Emily say cheese! Shoney is so done with pictures!

This was the group shot...and then I realized we never take Shoney's picture so they posed again!

Emily loved walking Shoney...or should I say Shoney loved walking Emily!

Here were the girls finding sticks and leaves to catch on fire! I also should give Megan major kudos...she loves camping and had many disappointments along this trip but she didn't get down, she just went on and made the best of it! She also said she loves camping so much she wishes she could just live in a tent...ahh to be young!

Jacob was "helping" pound in the tent stakes!

I finally caught him, he tried to avoid pictures!

Megan enjoying a snack with a funny face!

And clearly Emily could care less about what all was going on...she is very carefree! This picture reminds me to just relax and smile a little more!