Evenhouse Family: Blue Ridge Mountains, here we come

So, we started telling Kate and Brower about a month ago that we would take them on their first camping trip. We went down in the basement and set up the tent, got all of our gear together, filled the flashlights with batteries and were all set. They were so excited to go camping even though they really didn't know what camping entailed. It wasn't until about a week before our camping trip that Kate realized that we would actually be sleeping outside in the tent, not coming back home to go to bed! She wasn't so sure about that.

Finally, it was the week of our trip. Kate asked me that week "Mommy, when are we ever going camping?!" Kids don't really understand time frames, so telling your kids that you are going to do something exciting a month before doing it isn't such a good idea- that's a long time to wait. The forecast was calling for rain and really cold weather, possibly even snow. We packed up our car in the rain and headed to Boone. We were determined to go camping! We ate a wonderful lunch at Dan'l Boone Inn and let the kids shop for candy at Mast General Store, all while it poured outside and the temperature continued to drop! We decided to head to Jillian Price around 3:30. We pulled up to get our campsite information and right in front of us was a baby deer. What a great way to start a camping trip. We got to our campsite and started unloading our stuff and amazingly, the sun came out-thank you God! We got our camp all set up while the kids ran in the woods and collected water from leaves on the ground (whatever keeps you occupied while in the woods). Brower had to fight off the big bad wolf that lived in the woods!Papa showed up around 4:30 and the kids were so excited. We even got a surprise visit from our friends, the Perkins, who had been fishing at the lake. They left us their worms, so the kids went down to the lake to fish. They both caught three or four fish and loved it! We started our fire and cooked hot dogs over the fire with macaroni and cheese and green beans-great camp food. And finished the night with hot chocolate and s'mores. We finally called it a night and climbed in our tent around 8:30. Amazingly, both of our kids were asleep by around 9:15. We actually stayed really warm in our tent with all of our body heat. It rained most of the night and dropped down to about 38 degrees!

We woke up to a really cold morning, but no more rain. Chad, our camp chef, got the fire started and made a yummy breakfast of pancakes, bacon and hot chocolate. Kate and Brower were not so excited about eating breakfast outside in the cold! Poor Kate was sitting in her chair with her pancakes in her lap, right at the edge of our awning. The awning had filled up with water overnight and all the sudden just poured down over Kate. She was drenced with really cold water first thing in the morning...not a fun way to start the morning. After eating, the kids felt much better and were off to the woods again. Papa took the kids fishing again and they both caught more fish. Kate led us on a great hike through the campsite. I don't think my kids have ever been so filthy. They were covered in mud and had so much dirt under their fingernails, but they had a blast. They made up so many games to play in the woods and loved it. This was one of the best family outings we have ever done! I'm so glad Papa was able to be there with us. We'll definitely do it again and hopefully, next time it won't rain! We were very proud of Kate and Brower-they were troopers!