Family of 4 Plus More: Tall Pines Camping

Showing posts with label Tall Pines Camping. Show all posts

Tuesday, April 23, 2013

Tall Pines Camping

Every year in April a couple couples (and cousins of mine) and their families get together and we head down to Tall Pines Campground in VA for a long weekend of camping. It's usually a little chilly, sometimes rainy trip, but we always have a great time! This year was no different.

We headed down as early as we could on Thursday because it was a beautiful, warm day and we wanted to spend as much time as we could there while we had nice weather! I'm so glad we did because Friday was our rainy day. Like I said, there is usually a day where it's rainy. Thankfully by mid-day Friday the sun was out and it really warmed up! There was already a little mud there when we arrived. Well after Friday, it was Mud-dy, especially in between our camper and Kelly & Ron's camper. This trip we actually had to encourage our kids to play in the road because that was the only place that didn't have mud! Then there was when we discovered that Aiden had taken the opportunity to write his name on the picnic table that went with our site. That boy!

And? It's not always easy to go camping with a baby. Sometimes it's just to chilly for them to be outside and then when it's not, you worry about them being out in the sun too long. And then there's the naps that they have to take so they aren't extremely mean the rest of the day. Those naps don't always make it easy to do what you want and it's tough when they are crawling and you don't really want them down crawling on the ground outside. However, it all worked out and everyone seemed to be happy.

And Emma? She is fabulous. One of her favorite songs is, "This Girl is on Fire" by Alicia Keys. She will rock this song. Here she is one day after lunch putting on a concert for me, on her stage. She also told me while we were at the park one day that she's going to be a singing star. You know what? I believe her!
:-)

One of the best parts about this camping trip? The snacks!! Emma loves her snacks! She's just like her mommy!

Here's the kids entertaining themselves in the road again!

There's also cornhold tournaments...

There's also lots of snuggles with the baby that can't get down and crawl around in the mud...

And children who are way beyond exhausted...

And there's always a kid asking when we can go back up to the playground. Thank goodness Ronnie was old enough this year and we were close enough this time that he could take the bigger kids up there for a little bit.

There's always a pig roast on Saturday and a "concert" or "hoedown" as we call it that night. Here you take your cooler and listen to the band and let the kids have a great time. Aiden hates it. He's not quite into the public dancing (also like his mommy) and he's ready to go as soon as we get there. The other kids usually have a great time though and this year? Emma had her first slow dance with Hunter and it was his idea. He's such a sweetie and you could just see the hearts in her eyes. <3

And before we could check out on Sunday we had to go down to the beach and take our annual kids picture on the beach. They are usually pretty funny because without fail someone just won't work with us. This year, all the kids actually behaved themselves, but the sun was so bright in their eyes that it was hard to look at the camera and smile! Here's some of the ones I got...

And after we tortured them with the group photos, they went off to play for a little while...

Then it was back to home sweet home. And the giant pile of laundry!

Monday, April 30, 2012

Emma's a crab

While we were camping we walked down to the little beach they have there. There was a picnic table sitting on the sand and we thought it was a perfect opportunity to get a picture of all the kids together. Emma, however, was NOT having it. She had quite the whiny attitude at this point in the day. These pictures just crack me up to see how angry she got and how concerned Ava was about it. :-)

Hahaha What a little stinker! I don't know what was going on with her, but a little bit after this, she had some M & M's from the store and didn't whine again for the rest of the trip. It's amazing what a little chocolate can do for a girl. :-)

Thursday, April 26, 2012

Tall Pines Camping Trip 2012

Last week, maybe 2 weeks ago by the time I get this posted, a group of us (us, my cousin, Aimee & her family, and my cousin/friend Kelly and her family) headed down to Tall Pines in Virginia for our first camping trip of the season. Last year when we went we had really yucky, rainy weather the first day which left the rest of the days kind of muddy. This year, however, no rain showed up and we had gorgeous weather.

I was worried about how Emma would do and she was quite the little diva demanding walks constantly. She would climb in her stroller or the wagon and yell, "Walk". I think if we had never showed her the playground, she wouldn't have minded staying at the campsite, but once she knew the playground was there and it wasn't far away, she wanted to be there all the time.

Aiden had a great time playing with his cousins/friends. They pretty much hopped from camper to camper playing inside but did enjoy the playground and riding their bikes. They also loved to throw things in the fire and watch it burn. Little pyros just like their parents! :-)

I had a great time relaxing, hanging out around the fire, and eating. :-) Hey, that's what you're supposed to do when camping. I didn't really do much but by the time we got home, I was exhausted. Actually, I'm still exhausted and it's been almost a week since we've gotten home (when I'm writing this anyway). I'm not a huge drinker, but it's definitely going to be a long camping season being pregnant!! :-)

Here are some pictures from our weekend: