Free Weekend

We live in "The Natural State."  There are rivers, lakes, waterfalls, state parks, and more.

So, when David had one weekend of freedom between school semesters, we decided to go camping...

...in our backyard!

In our defense, it wasn't the master plan, but it turns out that May is the time of year to go camping in Arkansas and the campgrounds were full.
We'll be making reservations much earlier the next time around.

I love how all the boys are interested in every step of the process.

Camping just isn't camping without tin foil dinners.

They cooked marvelously in our BBQ.

Luke has been begging to go camping for months.

He was so excited...even though it ended up being in our backyard.

He was even more excited when he learned that he was going to be able to stay up late.

This was Caden's first camping experience.

He loved using his flashlight to go inside to go potty.

After the third time (in 20 minutes), we finally had to tell him he needed to stay in the tent and go to sleep.  He was asleep within minutes.

The late night resulted in some grumpiness the next day, but it was worth the hours of happiness the night before.

I sheepishly admit that I chose to sleep in my bed.

It was oh, so close.

I blame it on the aches and pains of this pregnant body.

Porter loved the excitement of the tent.

But...he too slept inside with mom.

Good thing he doesn't know the difference yet.

Testing out the sleeping arrangements.

Roasting the marshmallows for S'mores.

Preparing the S'mores.

Eating the S'mores.

And just a few more pics of these camping cuties.