First camping trip!

Well, we finally had a break in our wet weather and were able to get Molly's long-awaited first camping trip in this weekend. There were still some distant thunder-boomers on Friday evening and it sprinkled on us for a little bit as we were getting everyone ready for bed, but for the most part it was a nice, dry time for camping.

We went down to Lake Hope State Park about an hour and a half southeast of Columbus. We met our friends the Tomans down there at about 5:30 on Friday afternoon and got to work setting up the tents. Here are some pictures of Molly and Asher checking out the tents. Just below, Molly is sitting on her bed, which is just a yoga mat folded in half, with a down sleeping bag on top for extra cushion, topped off with her Mickey Mouse sleeping bag.

 Here are Molly and Asher checking out the Toman's tent next.

After we got the camp set-up and some food in our bellies, it was time for toasting marshmallows! Everyone got a few toasted, including Molly and Cadie. The extra-long, telescoping forks came in really handy with the kids.

It was a late night for Molly since she was having so much fun and since it stays light out so long.  Molly finally hit the sack between 9:30 and 10pm - and slept pretty well, right through to 6:30am. It was a bit of a challenge keeping Molly to a whisper, but she generally did OK not waking up the rest of the campground.

It was a nice morning, so we got up and slowly got ourselves moving to get ready for a hike. Here is Molly and Lauren showing off the new tent!

And here is everyone on the hike down towards Lake Hope

Lauren did most of the Molly carrying - and all of it on the way back. It's amazing how much faster you can move when you don't have a couple of two-year olds walking around on their own!

 We got back to the campsite in time for lunch and to do a little more exploring around the campsite. Here's Molly with an inch worm that found its way onto her chair.

Since it became pretty clear that Molly wasn't going to nap, we decided not too push our luck with a second night. The Tomans had to leave anyway, so we packed up with them and drove down to the beach at the Lake. Molly caught a few z's in the car - just enough to rejuvenate for about a couple hours of squealing and splashing in the Lake. We finished off the trip with an ice cream bar at the Lake Hope lodge and some nice BBQ at a restaurant near Logan, Ohio.  All-in-all, I think it was a successful first camping trip and we're looking forward to getting out there again and exploring more of Ohio. I think we're all a little bit exhausted today, but it was worth the wait for a break in the rain.