Camping at Bear Creek Lake

What better way to spend Memorial Day weekend when you live near DC than by getting out of town and camping?!  We organized a trip with the Zencuchs to camp at Bear Creek Lake AND it was the first time committing to three nights for either family!!!  We skipped out early on Friday to make sure we got two sites next to each other, and it paid off because the campground filled up quickly!  We chose our sites, unloaded our gear, ate a VERY casual lunch at the gas station "restaurant" at the front of the park, and then I headed to the grocery store.  

The ATP does an awesome job hauling our gear for a camping weekend, but I can't quite make food fit in there...  The boys explored the park while I secured provisions :)  The Zencuchs arrived just before dinner, and once we were all set up, we cooked a super fancy first night meal of HOT DOGS!  :)

Izzy is a Girl Scout, so she showed us several things we don't have as part of our camping routine.  The main thing was using "real" dishes and washing them!  LOL  The boys loved helping with the dishes... "Helping" is a loose term... ;)

First time in a big boy sleeping bag!!!

My baby...sniff, sniff!

Campfire: Night One

S'mores for some good friends :)

Card games by lantern

Morning #2!  We all slept pretty well (Josh and I tried out some new sleeping pads, and while they still don't provide as much support as a real mattress, I noticed a big difference!), and the boys were up early, but not as early as I was scared of--HA!  

Not too many toys accompany us while camping: some small trucks, a set of Army men, and some digging tools.

This little brother had a great time playing in the dirt!

Quite the set-up!

The campground was really quite nice!  The park itself had a pretty extensive list of activities each day.  The first day had archery on the list, so Jackie, Izzy and Jackson signed up :)

While archery was continuing, Teresa, Katey and I took Graham to the playground by the lake.  He had a great time, and then the rest of the folks joined us for some Frisbee!

Finding worms :)

I just love this picture of Graham and one of his favorites :)

Playing Graham's new dinosaur volcano game!  After lunch, everyone except Graham and me headed out for some hiking and caching--Izzy has a Geocaching Badge she can earn for Girl Scouts!  Graham laid right down for a nap, and I got in some quiet time with my book!

Teresa and I split up meals, so we made breakfast the first morning (eggs, bacon, sausage and bagels) and she made dinner the second night--an amazing pot of spaghetti in the Dutch Oven!

We supplied the first night's treat: traditional s'mores OR Campfire Cones!  Everyone enjoyed experimenting with some personal concoctions...

Overall, a success!  An activity AND a yummy treat!

Morning #2!  We were up on the early-side again, so we went for a family adventure around the lake to find a few geocaches.

It was really a beautiful morning, and Graham was excited that we found a spot for stick and rock throwing!

So handy that Jackson is old enough to take a picture, so it looks like Josh and I are out and about as a couple sometimes ;)

The serene lake before kiddos are splashing and families are boating

Checking in on what Jackie is doing

Camp Kitchen area complete with covering :)

Teresa brought things to make pancakes for our breakfast, but the container has a little explosion...  It delayed things a bit, but it was worth it--so yummy!

Pancake FIENDS!

Sadly, the fun was all a bit much for Graham, and after getting in some trouble and having a time-out, he tantrummed his way to an early nap...

Smiles are back for lunch time!

The campground got pretty quiet as most people decided to pack up and leave due to the less than ideal weather forecast... We decided to stick it out, but we did try to organize as much as we could in case we had to make a quick escape in the middle of the night.  

The kids enjoyed an activity the park hosted where they could use nets to catch things in the lake and check them out in buckets

I got started on our night for dinner-- One Pot Sausage, Potato and Veggie Dinner!  We really like to top it all off with Heniz 57 sauce!

We really enjoyed our last night--the campground was quiet, the weather was finally pleasant, and we just enjoyed relaxing!

Jackson and Izzy found a huge stick that looked like a hammer, so they spent a good while having a contest of who could hold up Thor's Hammer the longest!

Teresa brought Jiffy Pop and M&Ms for our treat this night.  Jason did struggle making the popcorn over the super-hot fire Josh had built!  I'm pretty sure he used the camp stove for the third try...

Love this guy

Fire Master!

Check out how HOT that fire is!!!  The forecast was just 100% storms, but we ended up getting just one or two set of showers.  We joked that Josh made the fire hot enough to change the weather!

We all lasted through the night, and got packed up pretty early on in the morning.  What a fun weekend with friends!  I think we all agreed we would camp at this park again!