chigger hill

So, we went camping Sunday night, but I first wanted to document this sweet Colby story.  He had been saving up money all week to buy a new card game, but when we walked into the Cedar Hill State Park office, he saw the bunny stuffed animal that Brooke wanted the last time we camped.  He quickly came over and asked how much money he would have if he bought it for her as an "early birthday present."  I told him that he'd only have $3 left, and that he didn't need to do that because he had been saving all week for that game.  He was adamant that he wanted to buy it for her, and I was just super impressed with his generosity.  Brooke was, of course, thrilled with his little "surprise" when we made it to our camp site. 

He announced that he regretted his decision about 15 minutes later (probably because he realized it would take a while to save up again, haha), but it was very thoughtful nonetheless.  But it gave us an opportunity to talk about NOT expressing regret in front of the person you bought a gift for, haha. 

After the gift, we got to work on setting up camp.  Colby really wanted to bring a pocket knife, so Kevin agree as long as he wore it on his belt loop so it didn't get lost.  My little dude was thrilled and I was just grateful that we didn't have any injuries.

Meanwhile, Brooke was making sure her bunnies were both tucked in next to her sleeping bag :)

She's the cutest :)  It was also pretty hot that afternoon, so she was taking a Body Armour break...

We decided to check out the trails before we made dinner and about 0.5 mile into the 3 mile trail, I was ready to call it quits.  The trail was harder than we imagined and I was dealing with some attitude from my sweet girl.  I tried to remain positive, but I was dripping sweat and frustrated.  We rode another mile and attitudes suddenly shifted.  It was getting late, so about 1.5 miles in Kevin asked the kids if they thought we needed to walk back, or if we could stay on our bikes and ride the rest of the way.  Everyone agreed that we could finish the trail, and I'm so glad we did.  First off, it got much easier, haha.  But second, we worked through something hard together and the views of the lake, the abundance of wildflowers, and the setting sun all made the struggle feel worth it!

When I asked Brooke what caused her attitude shift and her desire to try harder, she said it was when I made the comment about the snakes coming out when it got dark.  I was honestly just worried about it getting dark before we finished, but I'm glad my comment caused the change.

We were SO happy when we could see the parking lot through the trees!!

Highlights: Cooking dinner together in the dark, remembering the box fan to sleep at night, watching Colby build the fire in the morning, and campfire cocoa.

Lowlights: going to sleep without a shower (I felt disgusting, but I didn't know we were gonna go on a 2 hour strenuous bike ride before dinner), and CHIGGER bites.  Colby escaped with the least bites, but man, those things are seriously terrible!  Kevin's legs looked awful with bites ALL over them.  He would wake up in the night and have to go put ice on his legs because they felt like they were on fire.  Brooke and Colby had bites along their underwear lines, and Brooke had some on her feet as well. I just had a few on my ankles/legs, but I have no interest in going camping again until at least November! 

When I told my friend Andreia about the chigger drama, she commented that Cedar Hill was nicknamed "Chigger Hill" for that reason.  All I know, is that I don't want to repeat that again anytime soon. We either need to bring a sulphur sock to tap around our ankles, or avoid the park in May at all costs!