A Camping We Will Go!

At the beginning of March, our family decided to take a little camping trip to Clear Springs in Mississippi. The weather was just starting to warm up, but we knew it would still be pretty cool at night. It was going to be a perfect weekend for some camping! Eli was so excited and couldn't wait to go. He was especially thrilled that Maggie was going to be able to come with us too!

You can see how thrilled Maggie was to be camping with us. Haha!

Once we had our campsite set up, we decided to go explore some of the trails. 

We found one of the many springs located in the campgrounds and decided to go dip our toes in and do a little wading in the spring. 

This leaf reminded me of Drew Barrymore's new book that's out where she photographed hearts that she found everywhere she went. It made me smile :)

We found out that Eli's feet were a little sensitive when it came to wading in the creek thus earning him the nickname "Tender Foot" from Josh. It was quite funny to watch. Needless to say, he'll be going without shoes this summer to toughen those feet up a little bit :)

The creek was absolutely beautiful. It was quite cold, but there were enough pieces of dry land that it made it okay those few times we had to wade a little bit. Maggie absolutely loved exploring with us. 

We even found some raccoon tracks!

These were two photos I posted on Instagram. Eli was having such a great time in the creek!

Eli managed to fall in the creek, which we knew he totally would, so when we got back to the campsite the first order of business was putting some dry clothes on him. Once he was nice and dry, we all walked around and gathered firewood so we could get our fire going for the night. 

Maggie did what she does best...snoozed.

Josh cooking our dinner :) 

Camping is about the only time hotdogs ever sound good to me. 

Eli, like all little boys, was quite drawn to the fire. He kept adding leave, pine straw, twigs, and whatever else he could find to burn. He only managed to almost fall in twice, thank goodness. 

After our yummy supper of campfire hotdogs, it was time for s'mores! Yummy!

The rest of the night we sat around the fire listening to music and just enjoying being together as a family. Once the sun went down and we stargazed for a little bit, it was time for bed. Eli does surprisingly very well when it comes to sleeping in a tent. He went right to sleep and slept all night. Once morning came though, he was wide awake and there was no coaxing him to sleep just a little longer. We got up and the first thing on my agenda was coffee :) With all the camping trips Josh has been on, he's gotten very good at making campfire coffee. He whipped some up for us in no time at all. 

Eli had a breakfast of champions...a Pop-Tart.

Josh gave Eli a little lesson on rope knots and how to wind up a rope. 

Eli took this newfound knowledge and practiced it on Maggie.

She's such a great dog. 

I thought this was a cute picture. Mo, Eli's dearly beloved monkey, got to come camping with us. At one point, Eli set him on this log so he could get warm by the fire.

We packed up our campsite and went a little ways down the trail and to find some more walking trails we could explore before going home for the day. 

We had to cut our hike short when we came to this bridge. A tree had fallen across one end of it totally destroying the bridge. 

Maggie got a chance to swim in one of the lakes and Eli was just astounded. He had no idea she could swim. It was fun to watch his reaction to her jumping in the lake and swimming. I'm so glad we were able to take this little trip together. We always have so much fun!