Annual Camping Trip Round up

We just returned from our annual Wads/Groth camping trip today.  Read about past camping trips here and here.  This year, we chose Governor Dodge State Park in Dodgeville, WI.  The forecast showed blistering heat and rain, but we went ahead with our plans anyway.

I had already whipped up some camping sangria and we could not let that go to waste!

Ingredients:
Peach infused vodka
White wine
7 up or Sprite
fruit: I used strawberries, apples and blueberries
artificial sweetener
mason jars and lids

Directions:
Put 1/2-1 packet of sweetener in the jars (I put 1/2 because I was afraid it was going to be too sweet and it was perfect).
Chop up your fruit and fill the mason jars about 2/3-3/4 full of fruit.
Put 3 shots of peach infused vodka in each jar.
Fill the jars up with white wine.
Place your lids on the jars.
Put on ice.
When ready to drink, pour 1/2 of a jar into a solo cup and fill the rest with 7 up or Sprite.
Enjoy!!

And they were oh.so.good.

 Here we are just getting to the campsite and still clean and excited:)

We set up camp in the heat and humidity.

(Last year our little tent leaked during a good rainstorm at night so we invested in a much larger 6 person tent with screen porch and some cots.  Game changer.)

Peek inside:

Dining room:

And then we had to eat immediately.

 And we embarked on our 3 night camping adventure.  Including swims in the lake, ribs by Cookie, sparklers and glow sticks...

Unafraid raccoons visiting the campsite every night and stealing butter out of coolers, a torrential downpour and wicked thunderstorm the first night and morning camp coffee...

Children games of Wall-e, hide and seek and paper Barbies...

The shortest hike on the hottest day...

On the second night, after our rib dinner during which we listened to scary thunder sounds for almost a continuous hour, we got an alert on our phones of a tornado warning, not watch, for the next half hour.  This prompted a flurry of activity including throwing our kids in the cars, stowing the chairs away, adding stakes to the screen tent that lifted off the ground in a gust of wind all while consoling the kids that "of course it is going to be fine!  Nothing bad is going to happen!"  Then we quickly made a mad dash to the local Wal-Mart (where else) where we shopped our anxieties away.

 Rainbow after the storm.

Then we treated the kids (and ourselves) to A&W ice cream.

The next day, we continued on our merry camping adventure.

 (One of the craft project for the kids: nature dream catchers.)

We also made a trip to House on the Rock (which I don't know why I have never ever been there before).

If you have not been there, please, please go!  It is amazing!!

And back at the campsite, we watched the kids fight play.

And then, we were spent.

More memories in the books:)

Happy Campers

We had our 2nd Annual Wadzinski/Groth camping extravaganza.  Here was last year's fun.

This year, we went to Harrington Beach State Park right off of Lake Michigan.  Led by Cookie

in enthusiasm and continual comments of, "Hey, if could be worse!" whenever the rest of us found ourselves sulking about how gross camping is.

 Cookie's famous BBQ rib and baked potato feast.

Our little happy camper:)

This year was exponentially better for me because I was not 8 weeks pregnant and nauseated and pukey the whole time AND we had the littlest happiest camper along with us.  But don't get me wrong, it was still camping.  We constantly had to remind ourselves, "We are making memories for our kids" and "I remember LOVING camping as a kid."  Yeah, because camping as a parent is A LOT different.  And camping with a baby and toddler during a heavy rainstorm at night is not what I would call enjoyable.  But we stuck it out.

And we made memories for our kids.

And for ourselves.  At our campsite and on a beach on Lake Michigan.

Hunting for sticks.

And shells.

And pieces of driftwood to return to the waters.

Note the shirt:)

We roasted marshmallows and ate s'mores.  Unless you are Sully and the roasted marshmallow was "too sticky!  Waaaaaa!"  Then you just ate a marshmallow and chocolate graham cracker sandwich.  We sat around the fire, playing musical chairs to avoid sitting in the exact location that the smoke was drifting.

In the morning, Cookie made us breakfast burritos.
 

 And Sydney was still a happy camper!

The men went fishing and caught some rainbow trout while the ladies and kids went to a nearby park.

Later we ventured back to the beach to swim in the frigid waters of Lake Michigan.

 Where baby toes touch a sandy beach for the first time.

And waves are kicked, but not crashed.

And water is squirted.

And beagles roll in dead fish.

Poor Turbo didn't make the trip this time.  We thought it would be too tough for her but she got a nice vacation at her Auntie and Uncle Shagers house where she enjoyed many walks with Cousin Ava.

And we survived another camping trip.  I think the best part is coming home and bathing the kids then taking a shower and hanging out in PJs the rest of the day.  Nothing beats it.

Today I asked Sully, "Hey what was your favorite thing about camping?"
Sully, "S'mores and the fire."

I have two favorite memories from this camping trip-
1- baby toes on sand for the first time
2- lying in the tent next to Sully whispering back and forth about all subjects in life and then him telling me he missed Turbo:)

And suddenly my kids were making memories for me.