{ erin . mae }: Colorado camping

We went camping this weekend with Uncle Seth, Auntie Liz, Gracie and two girls from another family that are staying with Seth and Liz. We left Friday after work despite the ominous clouds and sprinkling rain. The campground was only about an hour away and after getting some helpful directions we finally made it there around 6:30. The guys set up camp, trying to hurry and beat the threatening rain. Liz and I fixed hot dogs on the stove for the kiddos and tried to get a fire started with the wet kindling from the forest. We finally got a fire going that quickly became more smoke than flame. The girls still roasted marshmallows and made their s'mores before bedtime. Sleeping 3 small children in a one-room tent was an adventure in itself. The girls finally went to sleep and Troy and I snuck in later. After a long night (Gracie had a rough night!), we decided to just get up and start our day. After eating our gourmet breakfast of pancakes, eggs, bacon, orange juice and hot chocolate we were re-energized for the morning visit to a nearby reservoir. Seth and Troy fished in the water while the kids played in the dirt nearby. We had a yummy picnic lunch and then headed back to camp to give the children a much needed rest-time. As dinner time neared, it again looked like it was about to rain. We made a charcoal fire to cook our cast-iron dinner in and it had just finished when the rain began. We raced the kids to the van and fed them there before huddling under a tarp lean-to the guys had set up earlier. After the guys tried their luck at fishing once again (they never did catch anything) we turned in hoping to get more sleep than the night before. Sunday morning was cool but we warmed up with oatmeal, bagels and hot chocolate. Madelyn even roasted an extra marshmallow for breakfast! We had a time of reading scripture and Ella requested all her favorite Sunday School songs. Then we hiked to the Painted Rocks in the campground to take some pictures. The morning was over by the time we had packed all the gear into the cars and we decided to eat lunch at a nearby park in Woodland Park. The cousins had fun swinging and sliding before we strapped them in the car to go home. We came home and enjoyed hot showers, washed 6 loads of laundry and put all the camping gear away. It was a fun trip and we made many fond memories.