The Hardy's 1st Camping Trip

Yes, you read that title right! We, the Hardys, went camping. Thanks to the Orchard family, who are all seasoned campers, we spent Memorial Day weekend at Santee and we had a blast! Below is the picture of the Hardy tent that I purchased at Costco all by myself--picked it out and all! Notice that it was large enough to hold two queen-size mattresses and a playyard. Needless to say, we all slept pretty comfortably that weekend.

Here are my three girls one morning after they rolled out of their tent and were waiting for breakfast to be cooked. It was perfect weather--not too cold and not too hot!

This is Chef Orchard, aka Mr. Scott, cooking one of our many meals over the open fire in a dutch oven. We cooked peach cobbler and cinnamon rolls that ended up being some of the best cobbler and rolls ever devoured by humans! For proof, just look at the picture of my husband, Bill. He never lets a crumb of goodness get by him! Notice he has another plate sitting by the one he is eating off of. What a G.D.--garbage disposal, that is!
And Chef Orchard is back at it again. This time, he prepared bacon and sausage in the cast iron skillet over an open fire. Notice the anticipation on everyone's face--they can't wait to sink their teeth into the meat!
We did not get to do a whole lot of swimming in the lake. It was very high and what was supposed to be a sandy beach was actually the sandy bottom. The water was also still a little bit cold but it didn't stop the little boogers from getting what was supposed to be just their feet wet to getting the whole body wet.
And here is a picture of the two little princesses relaxing at the campsite. I am not sure what was up with the left arms hanging out of the car seats but the little ones had a good time, too.
Bill attempted to do a little fish but he caught nothing. He tried for several hours but to no avail. Maybe next time, Bill. However, I can not recall him ever having much luck fishing?????
We also went on a future nature trails which was one of my favorite, and Logan's too, parts of the whole trip. As you can see, she had the best ride on the trail--daddy's shoulders.
And if he didn't walk fast enough or in the right direction, she just pulled his hair.

We also met some new friends while camping. Meet the "cool" white spider that was hanging out on the fire pit. I am sure she got word ahead of time that we were coming and that great food was going to be cooked on this pit this weekend.
And here is our other buddy--not quite sure what he was! He was way too big to be a lizard and did not quite look like a skink. He had a couple of brothers and sisters that we kept running into also. This little fella lived in a big log next to our campsite and was a little bashful. He ran everytime we tried to talk to him!



We had a great time camping and can not wait for our next trip in the fall or spring (when we get the chance)when the weather is just right for it again. We give a big Thanks to the Orchards for this great initiation camping trip!