Father/Daughter Camping Trip

The last weekend in June, Daddy and Julia headed off for our church's annual camping trip for all the daddies and daughters.  She was so excited and has been looking forward to it for weeks.  She's never camped before, except for in our living room :)  She and Carter have been begging to go for quite a while now.  But you have to realize their idea of camping comes from NickJr and picture books.  We had a realistic conversation with them about the differences between the woods and home.  They both signed on.  We decided the church sponsored event with all her little friends was a great place to start.  Not to mention they do all the cooking for you :)  So the ladies were up first.

The morning they left, Julia was downright giddy! Such a happy pair...

I can't say it wasn't a little hard to send them off.  Julia has been my constant companion for the past 15 months and I can't say I don't feel a small hole when she's away.  But at the same time I am overjoyed that she is happy and healthy and able to participate in life again.  It is all so healing for her soul and encourages her independence again.

It was a nice break to spend some downtime hanging out with just Carter.  Those of you that know him can probably guess what that looked like.  We stayed in our pj's until the afternoon.  We watched documentaries on the Military Channel like Battle Rats: Iwo Jima. I have to say it was all very intriguing.  They really do a great job with these shows and more importantly Carter is learning what honor, duty, and sacrifice truly mean.  It is easy for little boys to be attracted to battle, weapons, and vehicles; but he is really getting the bigger picture. We played Battleship and LIFE. We organized our military gear.  We read books about sea warfare, naval history, military helicopters, etc. We ate random snacks.  And we finished off the day with swimming, friends, and yummy Mexican food. We had a really good time.

Off in the woods, they were setting up camp.  Julia couldn't wait to sleep in a real tent...

The fun started as soon as they arrived at camp.  The girls found a huge fuzzy caterpillar to play with...

I love these faces.  All the wonder and curiosity of three little animal lovers...

Thankfully they had a beautiful, sunny weekend to enjoy all the fun activities, like boating...

and swimming in the lake.  I love these faces! These two are like peas in a pod and they were having a blast...

In the woods there are always piles of leaves just begging to be jumped in...

Here's a shot of all the girls- big and little- heading off to play.  Such a sweet sight...

Dinner was spaghetti, smores, and homemade ice cream.  No complaints from this hungry little camper...

Followed by a rousing game of duck-duck-goose...

Then it was time to hit the hay...

They had a wonderful time together and everyone came home smiling and full of stories and happy memories.  They're already looking forward to next year!