Camping at the farm

Ah, 'The Farm'. What can I say? I LOVE the outdoors. I feel God's creations, I love the sites, sounds, and smells. This time it was a little different. As a kid I camped 2 or more times a year with my family. Those are some of my fondest childhood memories. I was pretty excited about our first family camping trip (Micah stayed home with Gramma Helen). We pitched an old tent, but a reliable tent. Remember it survived the massive rain storm in May :) It was not in my most desired location, but it worked. We had a campfire, made smores, watched some fireworks, and listened to the crickets. The best treat of all was the stars. Man, the city sure hides the vast sky full of trillions of stars, it was gorgeous. The kids went to bed without any problem. Rob and I went to bed a little after 11pm. Two hours later I was up for a bathroom break. Four hours later Ellie woke we up to be covered up. I was awake for the next 1 1/2 hrs!! I couldn't for the life of me get comfortable and the noise of all of the animals was out of control. Simple crickets, no biggy, but this was much more. There were coyotes, frogs, owls, cars, and just when I finally go it together to go back to sleep, a stinkin whiperwill. Really it was a fine trip minus the miserable sleeping arrangements. The next time I go camping I will have earplugs and a blow up mattress.
It was so cool waking up with the kids and having breakfast while the sun was rising and making the dew on the grass sparkle. We played, cut grass, went for walk, and even had a bowling game.
Benjamin, Jennie, and I decided to take Bracca (Jennie's yellow lab) for a walk to a cleaner pond since she jumped in the muddy one at our place. Ben and I hopped the Mulholland's fence and went on 2 paths before we found the right one. The pond was really nice, just a lot of tall grass to get there. Needless to say I feel like a bad mom as I did not reapply bug spray on us and we came home with MANY chigger bites. Benjamin even had about 40 seed ticks on him. Poor guy was miserable as we tweezed them off. I have more than learned my lesson. OH, the great outdoors.