Camping!

Man guys, it's been 2 weeks since I've posted and so much has happened! Jesse finished his internship, we spent a few days relaxing and hanging out, I got an abscessed tooth and had to get a root canal, and we went on several short trips. Brace yourself: over the next few days I'm going to post a deluge of photographs documenting it all! (Well, with the exception of the root canal--which was fine, by the way, but I didn't take any photographs)

For the majority of this summer, Jesse has spent the weekends working on a paper (that he has now submitted to a journal) so this last week was the first time we could go camping! We were planning on heading up to the Upper Peninsula with some friends, but at the last minute we discovered something weird going on with our car and decided not to risk it. As a consolation prize, we decided to camp closer to home (where we could be reasonably assured our car wouldn't break down in the wilderness of Michigan). 

I have uploaded far too many photos but mostly it's because it was a beautiful little trip and I couldn't narrow it down! 

PB&J for lunch, with a side of smug smiles. 

We hiked from our campsite to a nearby lake, about 1.2 miles of wooded and green glory.

Once at the lake, we suited up and spent the next 6 hours having the time of our lives. As we left, Jesse said, "I think this is what heaven looks like." Indeed!

Nikolai really wanted to eat just the M&Ms from the trail mix (I don't blame him--aren't the M&Ms the only reason anyone eats trail mix?!) so we made him eat a few bites of apple, then he could have a few. 20 M&Ms later, he had eaten the whole apple! (And the trail mix became mostly devoid of M&Ms, which was too bad for the rest of us)

We had a marvelous time, swimming (the water was the perfect temperature) and building sand castles.

Miriam liked it too:

After we had our fill of swimming, we got dressed and hiked back to camp, where we tried not very successfully to start a fire (It turns out that despite about 15 years of Boy Scouts and Girl's Camp between us, neither Jesse nor I could really make a campfire).  

The meager blaze we got was, however, enough to cook some hotdogs and some graham-cracker-less-s'mores (whoops! left those at home!).

After dinner we headed out to the lake bordering our campsite (not a swimming one, hence why we hiked out to the other one) to watch the sun set. 

Jesse, either pontificating about something or waving his arm at the glory of the lake at sunset:

Guys, the sunset was RIDICULOUS. I have never seen anything so beautiful in my entire life. 

And another one, because REALLY:

Nikolai loved watching a massive snapping turtle swim around:

The greenery-enshrouded pier:

When we got back, Jesse coaxed Nikolai into falling asleep in the tent (which took some time, and nearly made Jesse succumb to slumber as well), after which we played some cards.

Jesse kept making crazy faces, but I persisted in photographing until he acquiesced and smiled for the camera:

Sleeping in a tent with 2 children under 3 was not entirely restful, but we survived!

In the morning, we had cinnamon raisin bagels for breakfast, which Nikolai insisted on dipping in ketchup and mustard (blech!).

Our abode for the evening:

Before packing up camp, we headed out to the lake one more time to bask in its loveliness:

"Take a pitcher [sic] of this fwower mama!"

These two down here though :)

A sleepy half-family selfie:

I finished the trip incredibly grateful for parents who persisted in taking me and my siblings camping as small people (with all the tantrum-averting and lack of sleep that entailed) so that I could develop a love of the outdoors. It's so delightful to share that love with our small people now!