Phew! Camping is exhausting! Maybe it was just because there were 68 of us (28 mothers and a whopping 40 sons!), but our 24 hours in the woods was packed full of enough activity to fill up a whole week. As an auction buy-in for the kids' school auction, two moms hosted this camping extravaganza at beautiful
Oxbow Park. They provided the food, the firewood, and various activities. All we had to bring was our tents, sleeping bags and camp chairs.
That is my idea of camping.
First off, we could not have been luckier with the weather. Although the forecasters were predicting rain on Saturday until the very end of the week, there was not a sprinkle in sight. Saturday afternoon was a bit muggy, but it was perfect for sitting out watching the boys play with super soakers.
It was seriously impressive how busy all those boys were! I guess it shouldn't have surprised any of us, but they were on the go from noon all the way until 10:00pm on Saturday, with 2 or 3 brief food breaks. One of Cayden's favorite activities (besides the super soakers
of course) was exploring "secret" trails throughout the campsite. The great thing about Oxbow is the fact that you'd really have to try hard to get lost. For the most part, all of the various trails around the campsite all wound back around to the same field. The river (Sandy?) was fairly close by so we told the boys right off the bat to stay away from it due to the abnormally high (and cold!) water levels.
One of the best things about the trip was the chance for all the boys to play with other kids from outside their own classes. Although Cayden had 4 or 5 good kindergarten friends there, he also really bonded with a few older boys on a very special project. As shown above, they spent several hours digging 3 separate holes, each about 18-20 inches deep. Finally, right before we were about to head home on Sunday, they all achieved their end goal of connecting all the holes underground. On the way home, Cayden asked if he could have a playdate with Richard, a boy from Avery's 2nd grade class! Despite the 5-year age spread amongst the boys, there were no conflicts whatsoever and everyone was surprisingly well-behaved.
Of course, the highlight of Saturday night was the marshmallow roast. Sad to say, this was Cayden's first time around a campfire (as it was his first time camping), but he made the most of it. He enjoyed one s'more and several solo marshmallows, finally declaring that the golden brown ones are
perfect! Surprise, surprise, it took a little while to settle down for the evening, but I can safely say that Cayden was sound asleep by midnight at the latest. Minus the car alarm going off at 2, and the fact that most boys were up by 5:45, it was a fairly restful night!
We had such a good time this weekend... Cayden was actually
excited about it! It was a great chance for the boys to be able to be as hyper and crazy as they wanted to be, without anyone telling them to tone it down.
Phew! Camping is exhausting! Maybe it was just because there were 68 of us (28 mothers and a whopping 40 sons!), but our 24 hours in the woods was packed full of enough activity to fill up a whole week. As an auction buy-in for the kids' school auction, two moms hosted this camping extravaganza at beautiful Oxbow Park. They provided the food, the firewood, and various activities. All we had to bring was our tents, sleeping bags and camp chairs. That is my idea of camping.
First off, we could not have been luckier with the weather. Although the forecasters were predicting rain on Saturday until the very end of the week, there was not a sprinkle in sight. Saturday afternoon was a bit muggy, but it was perfect for sitting out watching the boys play with super soakers.
It was seriously impressive how busy all those boys were! I guess it shouldn't have surprised any of us, but they were on the go from noon all the way until 10:00pm on Saturday, with 2 or 3 brief food breaks. One of Cayden's favorite activities (besides the super soakers of course) was exploring "secret" trails throughout the campsite. The great thing about Oxbow is the fact that you'd really have to try hard to get lost. For the most part, all of the various trails around the campsite all wound back around to the same field. The river (Sandy?) was fairly close by so we told the boys right off the bat to stay away from it due to the abnormally high (and cold!) water levels.
One of the best things about the trip was the chance for all the boys to play with other kids from outside their own classes. Although Cayden had 4 or 5 good kindergarten friends there, he also really bonded with a few older boys on a very special project. As shown above, they spent several hours digging 3 separate holes, each about 18-20 inches deep. Finally, right before we were about to head home on Sunday, they all achieved their end goal of connecting all the holes underground. On the way home, Cayden asked if he could have a playdate with Richard, a boy from Avery's 2nd grade class! Despite the 5-year age spread amongst the boys, there were no conflicts whatsoever and everyone was surprisingly well-behaved.
Of course, the highlight of Saturday night was the marshmallow roast. Sad to say, this was Cayden's first time around a campfire (as it was his first time camping), but he made the most of it. He enjoyed one s'more and several solo marshmallows, finally declaring that the golden brown ones are perfect! Surprise, surprise, it took a little while to settle down for the evening, but I can safely say that Cayden was sound asleep by midnight at the latest. Minus the car alarm going off at 2, and the fact that most boys were up by 5:45, it was a fairly restful night!
We had such a good time this weekend... Cayden was actually excited about it! It was a great chance for the boys to be able to be as hyper and crazy as they wanted to be, without anyone telling them to tone it down.
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