Wildwood Campground

Camping trip #2

Wildwood Campground
Monroe, VA
May 19-21

Our second camping trip brought us back to Wildwood Campground – closer to home and a familiar location. Michael and I have been to Wildwood a few times in the past, but not since having Landon or since the new management. We chose the location because Michael needed to be in Lynchburg for a few hours Saturday for a baseball event and we planned to stay until Monday morning. The campground is only 25-30 minutes from the office.

For this trip, we had a group! It was so much fun setting up our own little “camping community.” We had three tents, a canopy “tent,” a fairly legit kitchen, a great fire pit circle, and all right on the shore of the pond.

Michael’s brothers, Drew and Zac came along. As well as Zac’s fiancee Megan, friends Matt and Amanda, and friend Jon and his son Mark. It was Mark’s first time camping with his dad. They arrived on Jon’s new motorcycle and Landon was fascinated.

Some highlights of the weekend:

Landon got to play football with Mark.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Lots of great conversations and laughs around the fire (and fishing, of course)

Matt caught an impressive 4.5 lb fish!

We fed/played with/chased off lots of birds….

Sunday night after all of our “guests” left and it was just the three of us, we took a short drive to the George Washing National Forest. It is beautiful. We located a few camping sites that would be perfect for a group and I am already itching to go! Sure, it’s nice to have the running water, electrical hook-ups, etc. but I would love to experience the complete remoteness of nature again. Soon! 🙂 I wonder how many of our employees will be up for a company camping trip in the woods?!

Oh yes, and the best part of the weekend…..

The smiles on my boys’ faces 🙂 🙂

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Gardening Update

Just an update on this gardening project –

Wow! I am so pleased with the garden thus far. We have already had a few salads from the romaine and everything is growing quickly. The lettuce is absolutely HUGE.

Our first lettuce crop!

So much lettuce from one plant!!

I can’t tell yet what will be ready next, but the corn and peppers are really coming along. The onions are getting bigger, but I need to research how to know when to take them.

I have found that gardening is *addicting* and I am itching to plant everything I can get my hands on!!

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Douthat State Park Camping

2012 Camping Trip #1

May 5-May 6
Douthat State Park

Michael and I have loved camping since we met. There are so many reasons – but now we especially enjoy the time that we have to focus on each other and not even be *able* to constantly be thinking about or dealing with work. I even went camping a few times while being quite pregnant. (Yes, in a tent!) It’s something that we both did growing up and looked forward to sharing it with our children.

Landon doesn’t sit still much; hardly ever, really. So I was a bit apprehensive when Michael started talking about taking him camping that weekend. Z. Carson had a baseball tournament in Covington, VA and we like to go watch when we are able. We passingly discussed staying at Douthat State Park because we heard from a few people how great the campsites are. But, as of Friday night we hadn’t packed anything — probably because I was still a little unsure about the idea!

Saturday morning I had plenty to do. Landon and I went to both markets, the family fair, did laundry, etc. Then, Michael and I both kind of knew we wished we were camping and decided to get as much packed as quickly as possible. Fortunately, we have a TON of camping supplies and they’re pretty much all together in storage. We got the truck packed up with everything in less than an hour and with a 1.5 year old right at nap time that is VERY impressive. 🙂

The drive to DSP was crazy! We went over the mountains on these hair pin turns. But it was beautiful and I was quickly getting excited that we were venturing out on our first real camping trip. We got into town to buy food just as it started really raining. 🙂 Yay. It had cleared up by the time we were done shopping and made our way to the site. We spent a while setting up the tent, getting the “kitchen” set. Landon loved helping Dad hammer down the stakes. It was a beautiful early evening. the one problem I had was getting Landon to eat anything because he was just too excited to sit still. He wanted to be helping constantly.

Landon was fascinated — and I am in love with these two

So beautiful.

Saturday night after Landon fell asleep in the tent Michael and I grabbed a glass of wine to sit by the fire. He made me these infamous “dough-boys” — which are pieces of bread dough from the tube, on a stick, cooked over the fire but still VERY gooey, then topped with Smuckers strawberry jelly. Not exactly good for you, but definitely good for the soul. 😉 We had a great time getting to focus on us. And then it started raining. 🙂 We quickly cleaned up and hurried off to the tent. I took it as a sign that we were suppose to use this opportunity to get caught up on sleep. The night was chilly, but the three of us snuggled up close together.

Sunday we made camp breakfast, feasted on our stew that had cooked overnight, enjoyed the scenery, and packed up after our successful first camping trip of the year. Thank you, Douthat State Park.

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