New Tent

We decided to go camping for Memorial Day, but we knew we needed a new tent. So, we hit up a sale at REI and headed to the North Georgia mountains.

Here is our stick family :-) (I can't claim the joke though; came from a friend's comment). The new tent is a much more comfortable size for us (in other words we don't have to sleep like sardines).

This was a pretty remote camping trip, so… no pillows, no toys or books, nothing "extra." The kids had absolutely no problem finding entertainment. Vera spent most of her time in the trees!

The mountain laurel were blooming and beautiful!

William spent most of his time building a dam to form a pool. Lots of salamanders! Vera helped a lot while Silas tromped around in the water pretending to be on his own islands.

They unplugged a few rocks before we left to make a little waterfall.

As usual, Justin had to build some sort of craft, so he whittled a spoon and used a rock to sand it down. I'm just in awe, people.

Justin took Patrick on an early morning hike so the rest of us could finish sleeping. Midday, we took the one mile hike to the Appalachian Trail from our tent. Justin hung out with the kids while I took my turn to hike up (literally "up") the AT. I kept climbing and climbing till I came to this view:

It was a lovely, peaceful moment, the kind that only a rigorous mountain hike can bring... Though I'll be sore in the morning!

Best thing about our new tent? It has built in LED lights! (Sewn into the lining... I would have never known they were there without the tag on the tent saying so.)  So with the tap of a button we can have a nightlight, or enough light to read or play a game (there are two brightness settings), which takes away the need for us to fumble around with our flashlights in the tent. We look forward to more camping adventures with the new tent... But before our next trip this deep in the woods, we really do need to find tips on successfully taking children potty in the great outdoors!