Our first camping trip

We just returned from our first camping trip at point beach state park on Lake Michigan! Wow what an awesome time! I was going phone-less/device less for the weekend to get a break but realized then I didn't bring a camera for pictures. ;( I snapped a few with the iPad right before leaving after we packed things up. I'm sad not to have pictures but it was an amazing time with the family. And went so fast! Gonna make some notes here so we can look back and remember when my memory is even worse than it is now ;-)
Here's our campsite right before we left (our stuff is on top of some bushes in the sunshine to dry)












When we arrived we set up camp, and graham made some Mac and cheese on his new Coleman mini stove- (he was excited to try it out!;)) then we got some firewood and headed straight out to the beach. The kids were dying to get to the beach! Point beach is a beautiful place and reminds us some of the Oregon coast ;) the kids played in the sand and liked to find big holes other kids had made and fill them with rocks. Then there was the jumping off the dunes and rolling around in the sand...(insert adorable picture of kids having a blast with huge smiles here). For some reason there were small dead fish along the water line so the kids werent too excited about playing in the water. They werent there when we came a few months ago and according to some folks we talked to its a natural occurrence yearly. i made a note to myself to wiki that later... We set out back to our camp site and started a fire. Wet firewood made it smoky to start but we made a camp approved dinner of hot dog and s'mores. ;-)
We tumbled into the tent together and the kids did great! A beautiful perfect weather night too. The next morning graham made us a big breakfast and we noticed some paw prints from an animal that had gotten into a bag of chips. Izzy was super excited and started making some animal pictures for a journal. She got really into it and we started planning how we would get more prints the following night. We spent the day at the beach, walking some (at a snails pace due to kids) on the trails and finding the campsite kids play area. Izzy has learned to do the monkey bars so she had to master those and bodie played on the slide and play structure. I watched and continued to apply bug spray to myself continually ;-). We got some ice cream cones at the concession stand during some small passing rain clouds and then all took showers before our second campfire dinner. The kids did super well most of the time playing together, in the tent, with their stuffed animals or diggers, or chasing each other around the camp site. I loved seeing then play well, come up with games together, and even hold hands on our walk down to he beach. The second night after our campfire we walked on the beach together- one of my favorite times. Bodie and I chased waves and graham ran and chased seagulls. The sun was setting and the sky was amazing (insert amazing sky photo with water and blowing grass in the wind here, and another of graham holding the kids and chasing seagulls on the sand). It was a picturesque night. We had a campfire and then put the kids to bed. Graham and I stayed up together and hung out around the campfire smacking Mosquitos and chatting. We also set out some cookies and a hopefully plan to get some more footprints from the critters for izzy and bodie to see.
We we to bed and shortly after heard some raccoons so we sat up and watched them- super excited for our "plan" to have worked. Unfortunately we woke up to a rain and thunder storm this morning! So the potential footprints were gone, but we did enjoy some little chocolate donuts in the tent together while we tried to wait out be rain. It wasn't letting up and we weren't prepared (all of our stuff was pretty much out in the rain) so we drove a few miles into town for breakfast. Luckily the sun came out briefly so we headed back to cleanup and pack up while the kids played. We stopped at another beach on our way home -made a castle and played in the water some there!- before we were chased home by another chunk of rain.
A large coffee and a few hours later and we made it home! What a wonderful and memorable weekend. Next time- definitely taking pictures. It was amazing to be out in nature in a beautiful place. And enjoying the times the kids really did get along well and watching them enjoy the beach as much as I do. Those laughs and smiles won't be forgotten.
Already trying to plan our next camping trip...;-)
Here's a picture (from the web)of what the beach looks like!



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