Being the party animals that we are, we went camping for New Year's Eve this year! We had a great time. We went to this place that had these canal type rivers that were right next to the campsites. This is one of the 4 or 5 gators that decided that what it wanted for New Year's was to stare down a few camping families and see which ones could be intimidated! I love camping, but I'll tell you, I wasn't thrilled to be doing it with a pack (is that how the roll?) of gators watching! (click the picture if you can't see him well)
The kids all loved watching and poking at the fire. T Jay and Summer had a great time with their very own bottle of "pop." When Jess was a kid, it was their family tradition that each of the kids got to pick out their very own 2 liter bottle of "pop" and drink the whole thing for New Years. (See, I told you we were party animals!) Anyways, since our kids don't get sodas very often, I thought they would like this. They did, even though I started them out slow with the smaller bottles. Maybe next year they can try their hand at a whole 2 liter!
With our gator friends so close, I was a nervous wreck trying to keep tabs on my little Matthew. This is a hard job on any given day, but you throw in darkness and a swarm of gators 10 feet away and well, you get the idea. I decided to tie a flashlight to his back so I could easily watch the light walk around, thus keeping him from being eaten! Worked like a charm. I must say that I think his "Diego" habit may cause some trouble. He kept calling for the alligators and asking where they were. Almost like he was going to hop on one of them and go out on an adventure. How do you tell a 2 year old that there is a difference between the animals on "Diego" and wild ones. Hmmm...
See how close the water is to the campsite? The kids had a great time "fishing" the next morning. I say it like that, because none of them actually had a hook. In fact, Summer's hook was caught off of that fishy looking thing in the picture and I just tied a rock onto the line for Matthew. He thought it was great and no one in camp received any unwanted piercings for the New Year!
T Jay spent the whole morning poking the fire. I don't think he left the fire except to eat breakfast. He's very proud of his fire stick. We had a great trip- no gator incidents, no one fell in the fire and we had S'mores. (My favorite right now-hey baby wants, baby gets, right?!) It was a great way to ring in the new year!! We ended our adventure with showers and a family nap! What a way to get started!!
Being the party animals that we are, we went camping for New Year's Eve this year! We had a great time. We went to this place that had these canal type rivers that were right next to the campsites. This is one of the 4 or 5 gators that decided that what it wanted for New Year's was to stare down a few camping families and see which ones could be intimidated! I love camping, but I'll tell you, I wasn't thrilled to be doing it with a pack (is that how the roll?) of gators watching! (click the picture if you can't see him well)
The kids all loved watching and poking at the fire. T Jay and Summer had a great time with their very own bottle of "pop." When Jess was a kid, it was their family tradition that each of the kids got to pick out their very own 2 liter bottle of "pop" and drink the whole thing for New Years. (See, I told you we were party animals!) Anyways, since our kids don't get sodas very often, I thought they would like this. They did, even though I started them out slow with the smaller bottles. Maybe next year they can try their hand at a whole 2 liter!
With our gator friends so close, I was a nervous wreck trying to keep tabs on my little Matthew. This is a hard job on any given day, but you throw in darkness and a swarm of gators 10 feet away and well, you get the idea. I decided to tie a flashlight to his back so I could easily watch the light walk around, thus keeping him from being eaten! Worked like a charm. I must say that I think his "Diego" habit may cause some trouble. He kept calling for the alligators and asking where they were. Almost like he was going to hop on one of them and go out on an adventure. How do you tell a 2 year old that there is a difference between the animals on "Diego" and wild ones. Hmmm...
See how close the water is to the campsite? The kids had a great time "fishing" the next morning. I say it like that, because none of them actually had a hook. In fact, Summer's hook was caught off of that fishy looking thing in the picture and I just tied a rock onto the line for Matthew. He thought it was great and no one in camp received any unwanted piercings for the New Year!
T Jay spent the whole morning poking the fire. I don't think he left the fire except to eat breakfast. He's very proud of his fire stick. We had a great trip- no gator incidents, no one fell in the fire and we had S'mores. (My favorite right now-hey baby wants, baby gets, right?!) It was a great way to ring in the new year!! We ended our adventure with showers and a family nap! What a way to get started!!
5 comments:
Yeah, that was my first thought: "How'd they keep track of Matthew?!" Very clever with the flashlight! Scary about the alligators! Sounds like fun!
My kids thought it was awesome you could camp by alligators! I didn't realize you were pregnant until scrolling a couple of weeks ago! Congratulations!!!! Wish you could be here to enjoy all this snow!
The gators would have been enough to make me pack up and go home. I had a hard enough time with the scorpions in Texas.
Every person that I tell about the gators so close to the campsite - well they freak out. We really are party animals! We like you guys...don't move!
You told me this story and I cringed. Now reading it I am cringing all over again.
One of the things that we bring with us on our camping trips are those glow necklaces and bracelets. We spend a ton of money on them (even buying them at the dollar store we spend a ton!) because each kid gets about 2-3 per night to put around their neck and arms. And when you have 5-6 kids per night, and 4-5 nights, it gets pricey! But I tell ya- it works.
We also take those My Name Is nametags and put our kids names on them with both parents cell phone numbers listed on their backs each day. Of course, this is just at festivals where there are a ton of people, not when we are at regular camp sites.
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