Camping anyone?

One of the things that I was able to bring back from my Dad's house was our family tent. Every year of my childhood, we would set out to the Rockies in our big ol' conversion van for a two week family vacation. I'll be the first to admit, I wasn't always the most enthusiastic camper. I wasn't fond of the bugs... or the blister-inducing hikes... or all that family time! I did like the chocolate pudding in the pop top cans quite a lot though! Does anyone remember these!?! I know my sisters do. They were one of the treats we all looked forward to. I'm sure we did have smores as well, but for some reason the pudding stands out!

Back to the tent... My sister, Heidi, came out to visit us for my birthday a few weeks ago and requested that we go camping. So, after a little research we decided to visit Acadia National Park up by Bar Harbor (a.k.a. Bah Hahbah), Maine. Since the old tent hadn't been used for a good seven or eight years, we decided we ought to set it up to air it out and apply a new coat of weather-proofing. It's amazing how just the smell of the tent brought me right back to those camping trips of my childhood... and by now, all the memories are good. I'm so so thankful that Mom and Dad took the time to do those trips with us.

You can tell from this picture that Ruby was pretty excited to get in that tent. I think our family is going to have a lot of fun times in this tent... and if I can keep up with my folks fastidious care of it, it should last us for a good long time. The night before we set up the tent, we took a trip to Target and splurged on new sleeping bags for the kids, a big cooler, a new LED lantern, a fishing pole for Ruby, and a whole heap of other stuff. I was starting to wonder if all of our stuff, plus three adults and two kids in carseats were going to fit in our little Suburu!

I'll probably spend most of this week putting up pictures from our trip. We really had a great time (even if there wasn't much sleep involved!).

On Friday the kids and I will go on holiday up to Michigan to visit Jared's parents--just in time for National Cherry Festival!! Can't wait!