Camping: part two

On Friday we woke up to a chilly morning, perfect for pancakes, bacon, and hot cocoa. Evelyn really liked the hot cocoa.


Unfortunately, it rained all morning. Here's Mike reading to the kids under the canopy. We don't take any trips without books. We're so smart.


However, when the rain and wind got harder we all piled in our big tent and played games and read. See, our ridiculously giant tent came in very useful!


Here are the two year olds. Evelyn and Wyatt, they are so funny to watch! And they play so well together! What a couple of cuties!


Here's where the day took a turn for the worse. Tired of being cooped up we decided to take another hike. Donning our bright yellow ponchos we ventured out in the rain. The view was spectacular!





But we were wet and muddy and cold and tired AND we found leeches! Agh! Some of the kids had them on their ankles and I about vomited! I had never seen a leech in my life and frankly these were quite small and they weren't quite as freaky as I'd envisioned them. I also learned they are quite danger free (like, no diseases) for a parasite, but still. (I didn't take a picture, nor do I plan to search online for a picture of the ones we encountered. I would most likely have to go shower again, like right now.) Lydia and Mike both had a tell tale blood spot on their feet, but the leeches had long gone.

With being so wet and cold and no way to warm up or dry off and more rain in the forecast we decided to call it good. Luckily, we found a lull in the rain and broke camp. A few hours later, after having hit home and showered and searched everyone (again) for leeches, we met back up at our friends' home to have our scheduled camp dinner. We were so happy to go back to our warm, dry home to sleep in our beds!

So yes, camping was a blast and I'll do it again, but not on a rainy, chilly, autumn day. And leeches are not invited!