Saturday, March 8, 2014

My nephew joined us this weekend

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What another amazing camping experience. This weekend we went to Dan Nichols park in Salisbury, NC. 
We stayed pretty local because we had the treat of bringing my nephew, Maurice, along with us. This was his first camping experience. 

Our site was great. We lucked out and got a pull thru sight right by the lake. For some reason everyone wanted to be near the bathrooms instead (also the bathrooms were only about 30 yards from our site). Our site, while not the most level allowed me to wake up to a full view of the lake. It was so peaceful and serene. It type this now as I steal period glances out the window to watch the morning comings and goings of the birds on the water. 

It took us about an hour to set up camp. While me and the big kids worked the littles ran and played and it was wonderful to see them do so... No electronics, no toys, just them playing in the woods. 

Once we were set up we headed off to Dan Nicholas park. There is so much to do there. For only $23 all five of us explored the animal habitat, rode the train, rode the carousel, and did some
Gem mining.  We played at the playground, feed the ducks and ate a snack of nachos and cheese (at least they did...I'm still doing the vegan thing). 

When I was sure they were wore out we headed back to camp. Getting there and back took is on a nice scenic journey around the lake. It was a nice walk and I feel it satisfied my desire to hike :-)

Back at camp the big kids and I played board games while the littles played darts and argued with each other. Soon after we decided it was time to make our fire. This was not our first camping experience but was our first fire. I bought some starter logs so it was actually pretty easy to get going. The kids really enjoyed roasting weanies and marshmallows.  I also season and buttered a couple of pieces of flounder and put them on the fire. The kids said it turned out good and I believe them the way all four of them wolfed it down. I heated up my soup and grilled a couple of pieces of bread. It was delicious. 

After dinner we spent the next several hours sitting/ playing around the fire while the sun went down. I had no idea three logs (plus our toilet paper rolls and lent) could burn so long. We told stories for a while then put out the fire and went inside. We watched movies and played games for a while longer before lights out. The kids slept good and I slept as usual (constantly waking to make sure all was well).