To Covered Bridge and Back

To The Covered Bridge and Back

Every year since I was a kid...actually before I was even a glimmer in my mom's eye, my family has gone camping in Indiana to hike the beautiful trails and to shop the Covered Bridge Festival. This festival is like a trip into old world country...way in the back woods where there is no cell phone reception and only dirt roads and corn fields. The stars are brighter and the air is cleaner. It is gorgeous. I know the woods where we camp like my own backyard. I have spent hours and hours and hours of my life traipsing around the woods and along the lake. This year I got the privelege of sharing all of this with my own children. We hiked...to the huge rock and back (this rock is very special to all of us Covered Bridge campers), through the canyons (which we  called caves for Landon's sake), watched the water drip from the rock walls, waded through running streams (bc there was no other way), shopped shopped and shopped some more, saw horse drawn carriages, ate pumpkin ice cream (or tried it anyway), had campfires and smores, slept in a pop-up together (which went wonderfully well, by the way), ate chocolate chip pancakes (which my dad made outside for us) every morning for breakfast (Landon's proclaimed favorite part of the trip), saw raccoons and deer, and ate lots of good old fair food. It was a truly wonderful trip.

I have to say that Landon was a dream. He rode well in the car, he had a good attitude, he obeyed at every bedtime and naptime, he even shopped ok. He ate his meals, he did what we did, he didn't complain. He was lovely...and he loved it. He played outside from sun up to sun down...he loved everything about camping (especially how few times he had to wash his hands).

Noah was a dream as well. He napped in weird places, went where we went, never fussed, nursed in the oddest most absurd places, slept great in the trailer in a bed with Jon and I (he has never done this previously)...nothing phased him. He was a dream.

 We really had a wonderful time. I will say that camping with kids is MUCH more difficult than camping alone...MUCH. My parents were camping with us, and helped SO much. There is just so much more work, but Landon enjoyed it so much that in the end, it was entirely worth it. Not exactly relaxing, but still wonderful in its own way 

Now it is back to crazy life. My house is a mess, the couch cushions are scattered all over the family room, I have 109 loads of laundry...but we had a good time