I Love Camping.

I love camping. I really do. You see, camping and I have a love/hate relationship. I love the outdoors. It hates me.  Let me explain:  upon getting to my most recent destination Chehaw Park, with my parents and Little Man, I jumped out of the truck, anxious for our new adventure (and the first camping trip with Isaiah).  Then, a swarm of gnats gathered around my newly showered body.  They didn't just swarm me for a few minutes... oh no... this went on for the entire evening. The swarming and buzzing only died down at dark. And, let me put it this way: bugs and I have a hate/hate relationship-I hate them, and they hate me.  The swarming led to this:

Notice the Chick-Fil-A cups?! Oh yes. We ate out. And got bug spray and citronella. It helped... a little. I still managed to come home with red dots all over my feet (thank you fire ants).  Then, I stubbed my manicured toe and my toenail broke.  Oh, but I won that battle.  The firewood is now a pile of ashes.  I might be overexaggerating just a little... my toes are only manicured by me, and the firewood was burned up by my father... but the swarm of gnats... that's literal.

Little Man managed to step in a pile of fire ants. That was fun.  But, remember, I love camping. I really do.  The evening was nice. After getting Isaiah to sleep in the camper, we sat outside and read. It was so relaxing... until I went inside the camper to sleep on my table-that-makes-into-twin-bed-I'm-glad-I'm-only-five feet-one-inch-lest-I-fit...  It wasn't that uncomfortable, but my parents (Maw maw and Pappy) decided that the air needed to set on 50 degrees and run all night even though its only 55 degrees outside. I had a blanket that didn't reach my toes... and a little sheet. I woke up with my jacket on and cold toes.  I am still loving camping.

Day two: Camping Day Success. We went to this little wildlife zoo located right in our campsite. It was fun. And it was nice. Isaiah loved it. We fed alligators. We really did. This was probably the most exciting part of our trip. 

If you can see the small orange and yellow thing in front of the bob cat, that is actually
Isaiah's candy corn. He thought he would feed them. Shhhh... don't tell.  But the bob cat
did indeed eat that piece of candy corn. Feel special cat, candy corn is Isaiah's favorite candy.

The bear that posed for us.  These animals are only separated by a small fence.
In fact, there was nothing to stop the bob cats from jumping out of their cages...

Two dozen gators in this swamp... glad we were on the board walk. This was when
we were getting ready to feed them.

Feeding the alligators. Isaiah caught onto what was happening, and realized
that you throw the dry fish in to them... and he took all of mommy's gator food.  He loved it.

Day Two continued:  As we ended our walk through the wildlife park, we went to the petting zoo and rode the train.  Isaiah loved the petting zoo.  He tried to get in the fence with the miniature ponies... so sweet.  Isaiah enjoyed the train... very much I might add.  He even got his picture taken with Old Man Conductor... who was a very kind old man by the way.

Old Man Conductor... Thank you for the wonderful train ride!!!

Day Two ended with a campfire, marshmallows, and more reading for mommy.  We had a good time. I really do love camping. I sometimes like to exaggerate how bad things are... when they are not really that bad.  And, I really do love being outside.  And, I also really do hate bugs.  Happy Camping!

Oh, and I might add that mommy and Isaiah played on the playground. Maw maw played too.  The playground was huge, and fun, and perfect for Isaiah.

Little Man was excited!

Little Man also loves slides.

and tunnels...

And Little Man loves his Pappy.