Bayview State Park Family Camping Trip

We have tried to go camping each summer with my side of the family. Last year we went to Bayview State Park and it rained so hard we spent quite a bit of our time at the Children's Museum at the local mall, so we decided to give it another try this year. Everyone else had the same idea and the campground was packed but the weather was perfect and we had a great time! (This camping trip was actually the last weekend of July...it's just taken me awhile to get the pictures up on the blog! Thanks Ben for the majority of the pics!)

Things got off to a rough start when we realized that we had packed the wrong tent...we had our 5-man tent (that I didn't even know we owned!) instead of our 8-man tent. To call it a 5-man tent is a bit deceiving...there was no way that all 5 of us (plus Shelby!) were going to fit in it! Thankfully, Ben and and Kelsey have a huge tent, Thane and Kim had some extra space in their trailer and Mom and Dad didn't mind sleeping in the back of their Highlander. The end result was that Kyle, Lydia and Shelby slept in our tent while Annaliese, Haleigh and I slept in Kelsey's tent the first night and then Annaliese moved over to the trailer the second night. I'm pretty sure Mom and Dad probably had the best night of sleep out of us all!! 

We took turns cooking meals and when we weren't eating, we were busy hiking, biking, playing badminton or hanging out down by the water! Kyle and Annaliese biked more than 12 miles!

  

It is so fun to watch all of the kids play together and to listen in on their conversations! They love being with one another and it is so special that they have the opportunity to spend so much time together!