Sunday, June 5, 2016

Yogi Bear's Jellystone Park Camping, Day 1

This weekend we had our first camping trip in many years. We took Zoe and Landon several times when they were younger (not enough times) and we always enjoyed it but this time it was with the two little kids as well. It was their first time tent camping and we were all a little apprehensive about how they were going to do; luckily they did great and we had a lot of fun. Some friends of ours were there also so it was nice to have other people to hang out with, and the four little kids had a good time playing together. Landon was able to make some friends at the campsite so he ended up having things to do as well. 

We went to Yogi Bear's Jellystone Park in Quarryville, Pennsylvania, about an hour and a half from our front door. It's a beautiful ride through parts of Maryland that we forget exist outside our bustling suburban life. We drove through a bit of Amish farmland and saw a few horse pulled buggy's, a treat for me since I've never seen that in real life. The way the Amish live is pretty fascinating, really, but definitely not a way I'd want to live. 

We got to our site on Friday afternoon around 3, I guess. Tony was able to leave work early, Landon already had the day off due to the senior graduation and after Dakota finished speech I pulled Harper out of school for the rest of the day. When I walked to Harper's class to get him they were having indoor recess because it was raining. They were dancing to Shake It Off on the Just Dance 2016 game. It was projected up on the classroom smartboard...pretty cool!


Once everyone was home we made a mad dash to fill the van up with our stuff (and the van couldn't have held one more thing!) and get on our way. We wanted to avoid traffic and possibly setting up camp in the rain/dark. We did great and didn't have any traffic/rain/dark to contend with. As Tony and I started unloading the van Harp's and Kota started exploring. They were happy to collect rocks and walk along the wood separating our camp from the site next door. 



Landon, on the other hand, was less than thrilled. He'd been complaining about us making him go all week, and when we pulled up and he saw that the place didn't look at all like he'd expected (thick trees, wilderness, privacy) he was pissed. So, he sat at the picnic table and sulked a bit. Luckily he tends to get over things pretty quickly and he decided to let it go and help us get things set up.



These old tents set up pretty easily but man did they look outdated compared to everyone else's! They still did the job so no complaints. 

Once we were all set up at camp we set out to find the jumping pillow. I'd never seen such a thing but it looked fun!





When the kids had enough jumping we went to the playground for a bit. It was quite warm so we weren't there long before deciding to go to the water park for a little while. While we were playing on the playground some older kids asked Landon if he wanted to play kickball so he went off to do that while we went to the water park.



We had just finished putting on our swimsuits when we heard an announcement that we could come and meet the bears of the park, so we went and did that first...

BooBoo


Cindy


Yogi


When we finally made it to the water park, Harper was in heaven! He just loves these play areas where there are all kinds of water cannons, spray nozzles and other watery explosions. He happily played while Dakota observed. She's not a big fan of getting her face wet and she doesn't like all the kids running around her while she's trying to get her bearings. It's just not her comfort zone to be in that situation. She did go up and climb a little but then she bumped her toe and kind of fell down that little red slide so it pretty much went downhill from there for her...but Harper was absolutely having a ball! 






While we were at the water park our friends made it to their site. We played in the water a bit longer then joined them back at camp to start dinner. Harper and Dakota were thrilled to see their buddies Colin and Wyatt! They played and played while we made dinner and Landon came back from his game of kickball which had somehow turned into tackle football...







Once we'd all eaten our hot dogs it was time for dessert! S'mores!

 


After dinner there was still quite a bit of time to kill before bed so back to the jumping pillow we went! The kids jumped and jumped and when they couldn't jump anymore we were off to the playground. They had so much fun and we didn't think they were ever going to get tired! Landon chased them all over that playground and they chased him and they all just kept going and going. We were surprised when we looked at the time and saw it was after 9pm! 



We got back to camp as night fell and we were all pretty exhausted. It took the kids quite awhile to settle down despite how tired they were and it was well after 10pm before they were asleep. The night started out pretty warm but at some point it got chilly enough that I was glad we all had sleeping bags. The three guys slept in one tent and Dakota and I slept in the other. Other campers didn't seem to be quite as tired as we were and there was lots of screaming (the happy kind) and laughing and loud talking all around us. I'm not sure how long I lay there listening to it all before finally zonking out but when I woke up a bit later I was surprised at how quiet it was. 

It was a great first day and the kids had a ball. There was much to do on Saturday (the campsite schedules something pretty much every hour) and I was hoping the kids would sleep long enough that they'd be able to enjoy all the upcoming activity. 

I'll write about our Saturday adventures tomorrow...










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