Kenna's First Camping Trip

I have been wanting to go camping all spring. I loved camping when I lived in Washington, and I was determined to try and come as close to that experience in Iowa with my kids. Obviously Zachary is a little too small to enjoy the great outdoors, so Gona and Baca watched him overnight. He was a great baby, doing his normal sleep 9-5 routine...we are really lucky, and apparently Gona and Baca were too! He did wonderfully!

After dropping Zachary off, we headed to Acorn Valley campground. It is literally 15 minutes from our house, but is right on the lake and in the woods. We reserved a site that was about 150 feet into the woods, so it wasn't too far of a walk from the parking lot, but it was totally secluded and private. We set up camp and invited Gentrys to come for dinner and a bikeride, then for smores afterwards!

Kenna was a great helper, and the weather was amazing! Mid 70s and it got down to mid 60s overnight. Kenna announced at 9:30 that she was tired and went right to sleep. Josh and I relaxed and enjoyed the fire and stars. We actually slept quite comfortably and got up around 6 with the sun. Then we went to play at the playground and packed up to head home.

--here is the campground, we were in #103--

--so excited. We had been talking about camping all weekend--

--kenna helped set up the tent--

--gentrys came to roast hotdogs and eat smores, but didn't stay the night--



--we rode our bikes down to the lake--

--playing at the "beach"--

--nolan skipping rocks--

--shelly keeping him from jumping in--

--decided to get their feet wet--

--gentrys--

--getting our shoes back on--

--the view was awesome--

--riding back to camp--

--roasting marshmallows--

--mmm s'mores with "choc-a-lit"--

--catching lightning bugs--

--the morning was actually quite chilly, 3 blankets did the trick--

--the aftermath of sleeping--

--daddy's breakfast creation, bananas wrapped in crescent roll dough--

--kenna doing the zipline "the zipper" as she calls it--

We had such a fun adventure. It was the perfect little getaway for a three year old. We were really impressed with the facilities, very clean, with bathrooms and a shower. There was a playground, hiking trails, and lots of great scenery, and so close to home! We will definitely go back!