Camping at Coleman Lake

Coleman Lake

As many of y'all have probably caught on, I love traditions! I also enjoy adding new traditions to our already giant arsenal of regular scheduled family memory making opportunities. I love routine and order. I like knowing what's expected of me and how to plan and prepare for what's coming ahead ~ I think that's why I love traditions so much. 

Doing spur of the moment events can be really difficult with a large family. With traditions, I can plan months in advance (especially in regards to the financial aspects). Let's face it, some events just cost more because there are more people involved. It's not exactly easy making sure we have everything necessary for certain adventures, simply because the stores (even Amazon) don't always stock enough of any particular item for 11 people. 

We've tried various different forms of camping over the years. We've tried 'camping' in a borrowed motor home (back when we only had five little ones). Um, yeah that's a story for another day. We've tried camping in a pop-up camper (we made it through two nightmare trips and that baby was sold!). And we did the old fashion tent camping once, many moons ago. None of these camping trips were exactly 'fun'. They were filled with non-stop drama and complications. So we hung up our camping gear and quit trying.

Fast forward about 5 years, and I really wanted to try again to share my love of camping with my children. I grew up tent camping and have the absolute best memories of our family camping adventures. I get that camping isn't everyone's forte, but it is apart of me and something I enjoy doing. So, I began collecting upgraded camping gear for our large crew, with the intentions that we'd try tent camping again.

This is about the time I implemented our back to school backyard campout. I figured camping in our backyard was about as close as I was going to get to real camping (for the time being) and for those who didn't want to participate, they could sleep inside the house. Also this allowed me to slowly acquire new camping equipment which in turn would make future camping trips more enjoyable.

Camping in the summer in the south just isn't ideal so we have to wait until the fall and spring months. Last year I decided we were ready to embark on our first 'away from home' campout about an hour away at Coleman Lake nestled in the Talladega National Forest. Sadly, this camping trip was cut short due to an unexpected cold front that swept through the area. We did not have appropriate cold weather camping gear and with two little ones under the age of two I was worried they would freeze to death. At around midnight we broke camp and headed home to the comforts of our warm house. {{sigh}}

Now, one year later, I planned again for our Coleman Lake camping trip. This year I scheduled our trip one month earlier. Unfortunately, this year we are experiencing record breaking HIGH temperatures and instead of it being freezing cold it was extremely hot. {{ugh}} I just can't seem to win when it comes to planning camping trips! But, I am determined to keep trying and sharing my love of camping with my children. While the big kids are not a fan (YET), my youngest four love camping!! I'm going to take that as a mom win!!

The little ones love helping put up the tent. And I must say again that this CORE tent is amazing!! Super easy to set up and plenty big enough for our family. Worth every penny.

As is custom for our family adventures, drama is sure to ensue. We had a major injury within an hour of setting up camp. {{groan}} Our three year old took a terrible tumble down a hill and smacked his head on the hard concrete road. We thought we were going to have to leave to take him to get stitches, thankfully we didn't, but he was certainly down for the count for the rest of the evening. 

The 'family room' for our overnight camping escapade. 

Camping ~ campfire ~ weenie roast. Yep I'm predictable like that.

And of course s'mores!

Poor little guy. I think the sweet treat helped to pick his little spirits up even if it didn't help with the massive headache I'm sure he had. 

Since I'm not a pro at cooking over the fire, I invested in this single burner butane stove. Let me just tell y'all this little stove is a thousand times better than a propane camp stove! Unfortunately, I did forget our 'camp kitchen' bucket so we had to make do with cooking and cleanup. Thankfully my family is awesome at accepting challenges and rolling with the 'punches', lol.

Breakfast was nothing fancy. A yogurt squeeze and an egg scramble which included bacon bits, eggs, southern hash browns, and cheese. No one complained and everyone seemed to get full.

After breakfast we broke camp and headed out on a hike around the lake.

Nothing like hiking in the woods!

There was no shortage of opportunities to explore and enjoy nature.

Even though everyone in our family isn't exactly in love with the idea of being in the great outdoors, most of them do have a deep appreciation for God's creation.

I love being able to carry my babies hiking through nature. I will miss these days when they are gone. They will truly always be treasured memories that I hold close to my heart.

While I still haven't convinced the majority of my family to have the same passion for camping as I do, everyone was a good sport and tried their best. I wish we could go on multiple camping trips a year, but I don't want to push my limits. There's no sense in dragging my people to do more things they don't want to do than is absolutely necessary. 

I took plenty of notes while we were camping for items to purchase that will hopefully make next years camping trip even better. Yes folks, I am relentless, I'm not going to give up just yet on imparting my love of camping onto my kids. Even with all the challenges we faced, the memories we made were priceless. Lord willing my children will remember the highlights and one day realize how wonderful it is to experience the great outdoors through camping.

With Love & Hope,

Jennifer

Back to School Weenie Roast & Campout

Due to life being super busy lately, I'm just now getting to the final post for our Friday the 13th family fun day. By now most of y'all have probably caught on that I love traditions. Well, one of my many crazy traditions that I implemented many moons ago has been our Back to School, Backyard Weenie Roast and Campout. 

Once we complete our first month of school we have a weenie roast and campout to celebrate all our hard work. As my fellow homeschool mama's know getting back into the swing of homeschooling and knocking out those first few weeks can be a major challenge ~ which is why I feel a celebration is  a must.

I grew up camping ~ in a tent! Sorry y'all I just don't believe it's camping if you're in a travel trailer or motor home. To me, true camping is in a tent. Tents have come a long way over the years and this one we have from CORE is amazing!! Once you get it staked, it's four poles and you're done other than attaching the rain fly. 

Everyone loves helping set up the tent, even the little bitty ones. 

Here's another one of those pictures I've taken for years and years and years. Ugh to watch my babies grow up (and our family grow) brings a mixed of wild emotions!

These two little rascals were the most excited, but they ended up going to bed inside after the weenie roast and roasting s'mores. Since my husband had to work the next day; he slept inside and we opted for the three little ones to sleep inside as well so that the big kids could have some 'big-kid' fun.

It was a very long day with the apple orchard, the covered bridge, and finally the weenie roast and campout, but my oldest daughter was a little energizer bunny helping set up all the food for our homeschool celebration. 

This year I opted to create a serving tray for the s'mores. This worked perfect for quick and easy assembly!

I love this picture!! My father-in-law has this cute little truck for piddling around the property. The kids used it to fill up with sticks for the bonfire. 

Yes, at one point our little bonfire turned into a massive flame, lol. No worries we were all safe and all weenies were salvaged.

Not all my kids love s'mores, but in my opinion no weenie roast is complete without the presence of s'mores! 

I mean what's not to love?? Char broiled gooey marshmallows, melted chocolate and crunchy graham crackers. Yeah I'm a sucker for nostalgia!

Okay y'all here's the nitty gritty of the conclusion of our Friday the 13th family fun adventures: it was ALL drama. and a story for the books! After our weenie roast and s'mores the kids played some after-dark tag while the older folks started cleaning up. Then we put the little bitty ones to bed and the big kids and I headed into the tent to enjoy our sleep outdoors in the backyard. 

Due to it being soooo hot I opted not to put the rain fly on the tent (BIG mistake ~ insert groan). I had checked multiple weather apps as well as t.v stations and radio stations for the overnight forecast and there was ZERO chance of rain!!!!!! When 11:45 pm rolled around, I was awakened to it feeling like someone was spitting in my ear. {{ugh}} Y'all I was literally about to get on to a child for pulling pranks and NOT sleeping. But, nope it was rain!! Insert massive eye roll!

Once I got my bearings, I frantically woke the kiddos up and told them to grab all the sleeping bags and pillows and to RUN! So our little backyard campout was cut half short due to an unexpected torrential downpour complete with straight-line winds. We all slept indoors that night and when we awoke the next morning our tent had about an inch of rain inside of it. {{sigh}} Thankfully, it was another scorcher of a day and the tent quickly dried out once we draped it over the swing set. 

And there y'all have it, another drama-filled fun day in the life of the Williams family. I really do try, and at this point all I can do is laugh about it. Oh, the stories my kids will have to tell their children one day, lol! Even though my grand plans rarely turn out the way I had envisioned, I'm still going to keep on keeping on, pushing through, making the plans and attempting to make special memories with my family.

With Love & Hope,

Jennifer