First Family Campout

Within our first year of marriage, Ryan and I bought a tent with plans to put it to frequent use. Six years later, it had been used one time. Very sad, I know. This past summer, being the summer of fun, I made a vow that we would go camping, no matter what. Before I knew it, it was a Thursday at the end of August, and we were getting some unusually cool weather. I was about to accept that maybe we just weren't meant to go camping when my friend suggested we put together a last minute camping trip for the weekend. We were in. After spending an afternoon getting things organized, we got a big group of friends to head down to Hocking Hills for some outdoor fun. It was a blast!

We were nervous how the boys would do, but they had a great time, slept well, and didn't get lost in the woods (which is a major concern for our escape-loving boys). They loved having so many of their friends with us and ran and played for the majority of their waking hours.
It was also really fun for the adults to hang out after the kids went to bed. We played Werewolves (one of our favorites) and chatted with everyone till probably 2am. We must have been having a good time to stay up that late since we all knew the kids would be up at dawn (which they were).











The next day we went hiking around Hocking Hills. Before I moved to Ohio I never would have expected to find some of the geography we have seen here. Here we are hiking on the Rock House trail, through one of the caves. It was really cool.



The boys had to wear proper head gear at night. Once they saw we had head lamps they snatched those babies up and claimed them as their own. I was able to confiscate them after the boys went to sleep, though.
In the end, we didn't even use our tent. Come to find out it's only a three man tent so our friend let us borrow their eight man tent, which is a huge difference. We will definitely have to upgrade for any camping next year, and hopefully we'll put that tent to frequent use.