Madeline's first camping trip!

We had a great weekend introducing Madeline to the exciting adventures that camping can bring.

Consulting with dad on the proper set-up of the tent:

Madeline loves tents. She has her little train tent that Grandma and Grandpa James got her for Christmas and she pulls the tent out and goes crazy. Camping was no different. Once the tent was pitched, Madeline ran inside and immediately went from window to window smooshing her face to the mesh and laughing and laughing. (Brian said to be sure to point out that we have much better smooshy face pictures of her from the weekend but we are saving those for her high school graduation!)

We worked on perfecting the 'kicking back and relaxing with a beverage' aspect of camping:

She had great fun collecting all sorts of treasures in her bucket.

Her first bucketful of treasures consisted of a very special rock and all sorts of little daisy like flowers that she very carefully searched for.

After that, she moved on to pine needles and pinecones

On the hunt for more pinecones

Found one!!

We had a beautiful sunset and took a walk down to the dock to enjoy the evening.



Eating breakfast outside brought lots of smiles. (The band-aide is purely for decorative purposes. She is very into 'owies' right now and whenever she sees the box of band-aides she holds out her wrist and says owie, owie.)

We attempted to take a nice morning hike while it was still cool. Madeline was so excited about the hike that she refused to sit in her stroller and insisted on walking. Needless to say, our good intention of hiking around to the back of the lake turned into a slow 1/8 mile hike stopping to check out each leaf and turn over every rock.



The one thing that Madeline was sure to perfect during her first camping trip was the art of getting super dirty. She had a blast burying herself in dirt!


All in all it was a great trip. The thing about camping in April is you never know what the weather will bring. Brian and I were recalling a trip we took to this same campground about 3 years ago during the same time of year where we were sooo cold. You can tell from Madeline's rosy cheeks that this time we had very hot weather! Maybe if we get a cool spell we can plan another camping adventure, as it looks like our little one enjoys the outdoors as much as we do.

Spring Fling

Madeline's daycare had a fundraising Spring Fling on Sat. It was a hot day, but we ventured out for some fun in the sun.

Of course, the playground was a lot of fun, since it was all new to her!

We tried the pony ride, but this is about as close as she got to the ponies. When I started to sit her on the saddle she started to cry. Guess I was more excited about the pony rides than she was! Maybe next year!

The train, however, was a big success. She waved each time she went riding by and had a permanent smile glued to her face!


The foam machine was a big hit, but as her teacher explained, it was much messier than anticipated. By the time we arrived it had turned into more of a mud pit. Madeline's favorite teacher, Ms. Gaines, was kind enough to take Madeline to the side to play with some of the foam.


She got her first taste of cotton candy. Check out those rosy cheeks--she gets so red when she gets hot!