Our second annual camping trip to Lake Roosevelt was one for the books! The temps were in the 100’s, we spent 75% of our time on the boat or in the water, the other 25% wishing we were in the water, lots of money on ice for the coolers, very few hours actually sleeping, 1 night surviving a wind storm that blew over the girl’s tent, 2 nights gazing at the stars, and 100% of our time thankful for our friends, family, and God’s creation. In an attempt to find a clever caption or intro to this post, I searched “camping jokes” and “camping quotes” on Pinterest and found a few that might not be the most clever or funny, but were all relatable so thought I’d share.
- Time camping isn’t spent, it’s invested.
- Camping isn’t really a vacation, but it sure makes for good memories.
- You know what rhymes with camping? (Wine/tequila)
- If you can survive camping with someone, you should marry them on the way home.
Do you agree?
I’ll spare you the negative details but just know that there was never a dull moment where something wasn’t going wrong. All the pics that say otherwise are below! Oh, and shared pics from our trip last year along with a few tips for newbie campers in this post, if you’re interested!
Only sharing this pic because of the bike short set! A must. Wearing a XS.
Teaching the girls the secret to a candid pic that’s not actually candid… laughing.
Spoons become toys when you are camping. Amazing.
Fancy pool floaties will forever be my favorite camping accessory.
Sleepy Oz. The entire campground was awake and it was probably in the 90’s and so hot in his tent when I took this. The boy has skills that can only come from living in a fraternity.
Capri-sun gang.
My boys.
The chest hair and face scruff. Like, how?!
The tooth gap and eyelashes. Swoon. (Hat from here.)
The freckles and braces. Gahhhhh! <3
The mom pow-wow on the float. A little while after this pic, a child climbed on after swallowing a bunch of water and puked it all up (with some watermelon chunks) all over me, but it was good and peaceful while it lasted! Ha!
Tilly and Oz with a slight advantage at chicken!
Outdoor showers forever. Will be adding one to our backyard asap.
The night of the windstorm was gorgeous; The pictures do not do it justice. The colors were vibrant, the lightning was epic, and our speaker was blasting Thunder Struck by ACDC — which inspired a lot of good dance moves and air guitars.
I mean. Favorite.
Missing Oz in this pic (boo), since he came for the weekend and went home for work…. Not sure it’ll ever feel normal to be without one (or more) of the kids when doing family stuff. It’s a constant feeling of incompleteness, like you’re missing something. But on the flip side there’s a deep sense of “THANK YOU LORD! WE DID IT!” when you see your kids thriving at and moving forward in their own life. It’s wild and surreal and nothing will prepare you for it except the happy highs, the low-lows, the WTAF is happening, and the “Jesus take the wheel” moments, that make up parenting. BE THANKFUL FOR IT ALL FRIENDS! It grows you and grows your kids and makes the Hallelujah moments that much sweeter.
The moms. (Heather, we missed you!)
My crew on the drive home when we stopped to get gas! I think it took Griffin a full week to remember how to wear a shirt.
And is it just me or is there a crazy form of jet lag that follows camping? We’ll call it long-haul-camp-lag, because it took me at least two weeks to recover from 5 days of camping, lol.
Tell me all your thoughts or experiences with camping in the comments, please! I would love to be both inspired to go again and reassured that I’m not alone in my aversion to it. (SOS)
xo, Rae
I adore camping, but get to the place by the car, is it count?) I do it in Crimea because there are lots of places to visit (I am from Russia). Like stop between mountains and the sea to climb and swim in the same day. It is cool to have a jogging in the morning and staring at the stars and waiting for the meteors (especially with my husband who knows the sky well). The island is not very big so we can go to the historical places – cave ancient cities for example! – at the same day.
Thanks for your blog! It is very supportive and sincere, hope I get inspired for my activities with newborn son)
Congrats on baby boy! And yes, car camping counts! Sounds like fun adventures! xoxo
Looks amazing! Can you just plan my camping trip for me?!:)
Can you give more deets? Did you rent a camper, tent, or make the plunge to buy a camper? Any recs for menus or what to pack, what’s a waste of time to pack?
Aaaaaannd! Are you really doing outdoor shower, cause I have been dreaming of one?! Kinda want to make a cheap one this weekend to test the concept! Bag of rock, wooden mat, hoola hoop, curtain, shower head and a hose? Too backwoods?
We head to CO every summer to escape a little of the Texas heat and “enjoy” a week long family camping trip. Mine sounds much like yours, I love it and love telling others about it and how they should do it with their family but man is it a lot of work. Lots of patience is MUST. This past year we decided to hit 4 different camping spots and that was A LOT for all of us. The up and down of the tent. Packing things up to head to the next spot and making sure things weren’t too wet or too dirty before we put them away and headed to the next location. One night there was such a torrential downpour (at Big Bend) that we realized one of our tents wasn’t going to make it the rest of the trip. We survived the night without washing away but had to rearrange our sleeping spots for the rest of the week. We now had 2 tents and 5 people and my people are like yours, big kids, so they take up more space. I would not trade our annual family camping trips for anything even though in the moment I doubt that statement – haha.
Love all of your photos. The night of the windstorm the sky is gorgeous! Definitely keep camping. Such great family memories. Of the quotes you picked above (about camping) my fav 2 are: 1) Camping isn’t really a vacation, but it sure makes for good memories. 2) If you can survive camping with someone, you should marry them on the way home (so so true!!).
Thank you for sharing your family’s adventures.