The three of us went camping for Father's Day this past weekend! Asa and I used to go camping all the time before we had Marley. We made it our unofficial rule that we had to go camping once a month. But once I got pregnant with Marley, the idea of crawling in and out of a tent and sweating all night in the humid air was not appealing. The only other time we have been camping since then was the weekend before Asa left for basic training. But I felt like Father's Day was a good time to try it again. So, we packed up the truck and headed to Lake of the Ozarks State Park.
We got to camp site we had reserved on the internet and hated it. It had electricity, but it was in a terrible location and we would be surrounded by RVs. So, we decided to give up the electricity in exchange for being right by the lake, around other tent campers. Once we found our new spot, we unloaded everything and then headed on a walk to the swimming area.
I really didn't think Marley would like swimming in the lake. Because, let's be honest. I hate swimming in lakes. But to my surprise, she loved it!
She smiled and giggled as Asa twirled her around and and she blew bubbles in the nasty water. I got over my qualms about it and actually enjoyed the water with them. She even enjoyed us throwing her back and forth between us and putting her whole face in the water!
Right when we were stating the walk home, it started pouring. So, Asa ran ahead with Marley and tried to cover up all of the things at our campsite that didn't need to get wet. It rained just long enough to cool everything off and get our chairs nice and wet, and then the sun came back out. So, since everything was wet, we decided that an ice cream break was needed!
After a yummy ice cream break at the park store, we headed back to the campsite to clean up and get things set up for the evening.
It was HOT!
And WET!
And EWIE!
There were two girls playing at the play ground, so while Asa aired up the air mattress at the bathroom, Marley and I tried to make friends. Unfortunately they left as soon as we got there, so Marley and I played by ourselves.
When we got back to the campsite, Asa had put our mattress in the tent and we realized that it was just not going to work for the three of us to stay in that tent. I debated for a while, and then decided we should go get a new tent. There was a Walmart 10 minutes away, so we went on a mission to find a bigger tent. I didn't want to spend the money for the most expensive one, so we settled on the mid-price one. It was nice and big though!
And Marley had a blast playing in it!
(We are unfortunately going through a nose-picking stage...)
We made Hobo Burgers for dinner that night and then went to sleep fairly early. When we used to go camping, we would bring a bunch of board games to play at night, but we forgot this time. The weather was really nice until about 2:30 in the morning, when the wind started blowing really hard. So, we decided to put the rain cover on (which I would not recommend trying to do for the first time at 3 in the morning). Marley was scared and crying the whole time we were out of the tent, so I am sure we also woke up everyone around us. But we got the cover on, and then got back in bed, just in time for the rain to start.
And then the tent started leaking... So, we moved to the middle on the tent where it wasn't leaking and somehow managed to go back to sleep for the rest of the night.
Saturday was filled with more swimming, more heat, more rain, and more relaxing. We had to go for a drive so that Marley could take a nap, because it was just too hot for me to lay down in bed with her. We also played in the tent, went on a few walks, and watched Asa fish for a little while.
Around bedtime that night, Marley and i both started feeling sick. Marley felt like she had a slight fever and was really cuddly and my throat was getting scratchy. So, we all went to bed again early, which was good because I was up most of the night. I just could not sleep. I was sticky, Marley wouldn't stop nursing without crying, and I couldn't get comfortable. It was not a fun night. But around 4 am I somehow got to sleep for a few hours and then we all woke up happy around 8!
The next morning, we slowly packed everything up and said goodbye to the lake. Marley came home with a few bruises and scrapes from various uh-ohs, but she had a good time overall. When we woke up the second morning, she started whining and looking around like she didn't know where we were. I said, "We're camping!" And she smiled really big and said, "Uh HUH!"
Overall, we had a good time. There are a few things that I would have loved to change, but I would definitely go again. Asa and I want to be that family that takes camping trips together all the time. Both of our families did it growing up, and we have some of our best childhood memories from camping with our families. We hope that our kids will love it and have memories like that.
Bobby is a groundhog that lives under our lower deck. We see him occasionally when he comes out to inspect the yard, and boy does Marley get excited. She would probably not be very excited if she weren't safely inside, but she loves to watch him from the window. She asks about him all the time and loves to tell me he is sleeping or at work. This guy works and sleep A LOT! He's our little mascot for the house, and we have a lot of fun looking for every day. 
