Mt. Magazine Family Camping ~ Spring 2010

In the spring of 2010 Connor had just turned 9 years old. He has spent his life around campers, but he had never camped in a tent prior to this. So we decided he needed a tent-camping adventure. We loaded up the 4-wheeler in the cargo trailer and pulled it up to Mt. Magazine in Arkansas. The two of us had gone as a couple the year before (see our previous Mt. Magazine post for details), so this was time for a family adventure.

He learned how to set up a tent as he helped Tim with the task.

Then it was time to be a true outdoorsman. He hopped on the 4-wheeler to go find some firewood.

After bringing back a tree, Connor attempted to karate chop it into firewood.

Ok... enough outdoors stuff. Time to paint the face like joker.

Daddy helped smooth it out a bit.

Learning to whistle with a blade of grass.

Morning time!!! Wake up everyone!!

Cooking breakfast over the campfire. Sausage with biscuits wrapped around them.

Time for more face painting! This time it was Two-Face.

We used a tripod to cook burgers over the open campfire. It makes it so much easier, and boy are they yummy!!

Waiting for dinner to be ready.

For very little money we were able to have a fun-filled, memory-making weekend trip full of adventure! If you haven't camped with your kids (I mean real tent camping) I highly recommend it! It's an experience they're sure not to forget.

Family Fun: Relaxation at its finest (minus the crashing waves of the sea)

Talk about relaxing! Tim and I are reclined in our zero gravity chairs, cuddled in blankets and sweatshirts, watching the fire snap, crackle, and pop, listening to the crickets and frogs, and enjoying sweet "couple" conversations. (Well, we were until we picked up our iPads). It's a crisp 63 degrees... practically unheard of for a July night in Arkansas where the summers are hot and humid. The fire warms us as it casts a flickering glow across each other's face. The only other light is the ambient glow of the lanterns hanging from our canvas gazebo. The campground is quiet of human traffic. Peacefulness is bliss!

Although I didn't get my morning hike today, I feel good from the workout I got yesterday. This morning we had to load up and drive home to take Brantley to school. He only goes 2 days a week, and he seems to benefit greatly from every interaction with other kids. So we try to not let him miss days. Luckily we were able to schedule the heat & air guys to come fix our a/c during that time.

We made it back to the campsite this evening. I decided to attempt a different veggie with Brantley tonight since his reaction to avocado was not favorable yesterday. I don't like the idea of feeding him store bought food, but I had some my mother-in-law had given us. So I decided to give carrots a shot.

SUCCESS!!!!!!!

He loved them! He kept trying to steal the spoon from me and shove it in his mouth. It was so cute! 

We got a 4th of July craft sent home from school today. Oh how I treasure these! 

I think I'll attempt our own 4th of July craft with him tomorrow. I'll let you know how it goes.

IPad is turning off to enjoy some more time with my sweet hubby. Bye for now!

Family Fun: Back to Camping in Full Swing

We set up our camper Tuesday because we were up here for that fishing event, but we headed back home afterward since Brantley was at school. Wednesday we came back up, cleaned it up, did our grocery shopping and all that, and then called it quits for the night. Thursday I had to drive back home to take Brantley to school. He and I came back Thursday night. So today is our first real day of camping for this stint.

It was crazy hot all day. Tim and Brantley stayed in the camper. But I decided to pretend I was back in the '90s and lay out sweating to death in an attempt to get a little color on my skin. After going back in and spending a couple of hours catching up on school work it finally cooled off enough to go back out. We broke out all the decorations and decided to glam up our campsite.

We're camping through the 4th of July weekend, so I got these cute, battery-operated, LED lanterns at Dollar Tree for $1 a piece! I love them! 

I brought our citronella tiki torches from home. I found 3 terra-cotta pots I had once painted a pretty blue color, filled with sand, and stuck the tiki torches in when we had a tropical-themed backyard. Now those pots need to be painted. I planned to paint the red, white, and blue for the holiday, but then I realized we're camping. The worn look is ok. There's no need to spend money on paint just for that.

I found a cute chevron tablecloth at Hobby Lobby for 66% off! Check out their spring and summer items right now! They're crazy cheap!

We strung rope lights and... Voila! Our campsite is decorated! (Just between you and me, I hope to do a few 4th of July crafts before the holiday actually gets here to glam it up a little more).

The rest of the evening I played with Brantley...

While Tim grilled us some steaks!

I rocked Brantley to sleep, and then Tim and I relaxed by the campfire late into the night.

Ah... Camping and the great outdoors! (Or should I say "glamping?")