Camping with 8 kids

Wow, what a weekend. We had a great but very exhausting weekend of camping with three other families. It was our usual gang of friends, plus C's sister and her two kids. So our group consisted of the following:

- 7 adults

- 8 kids, all of which were 5 and under

- one large tent

- one RV

- one trailer

- one dog (not ours)

The weekend went well. It was of course not without it's occasional meltdown or 8 kid hysteria, but we managed to survive and actually have some adult only time in the evenings around the camp fire.

My Friday was pretty busy getting ready for the weekend. My usual trip to the gym in the morning and a lovely lunch down at the lakeside patio with my friend L, before I started running around grocery shopping and packing for the trip. We were able to get away around 4:30pm after picking up our kids as well as C & H from daycare. We arrived at the campsite just before 6pm and the rest of the group arrived shortly afterwards. We managed to feed the kids and have them tucked into bed before 9pm...a feat in itself, I think. We enjoyed Papa's campfire and fun conversation before heading to bed.

Saturday started early....WAY too early. Papa got up to go out for pee and took Schmoo with him. We're guessing it was around 4am - the sun was up but the campsite was silent. I managed to force Schmoo to snuggle into my sleeping bag and go back to sleep with me for a bit. Bean woke up requesting a poo and woke up Schmoo so off to the bathrooms we went. When we returned, I checked the time and it as 6:48AM!!! Luckily a few of the other kids were getting up so we started feeding them breakfast. It didn't take long before the entire group was gathered and after a wonderful fry-up, we packed up and headed to the beach/playground for the afternoon. The kids had a great time playing in the sand, splashing in the water and climbing around the playground. We even rented one of the paddleboats and took the kids out in it in turns around the little lake.

Back to the campsites for lunch and some quieter tasks in the afternoon. D had brought some craft stuff so that entertained the kids for a bit before they started asking to go to the playground again. We had a bit more beach time before the winds started to pick up and we headed back to the campsites for dinner time. After a full day outside in the sun, it was early to bed for our kids. We managed to get them settled and asleep by 7:30pm - leaving the rest of the evening for adult conversation and a round of the Things boardgame at the campfire. One benefit of our friends bringing an RV this year was the blender drinks we got to enjoy with our dinner!! We packed things up just as the thunderstorm made it to our site and the rain started. The wind was crazy, so we were thankful not to have Airlie with us on this trip.

Today was another early start. It was Papa's turn to get up so he entertained the kids in the van for a bit until the rest of the crew got up. We enjoyed some more beach time with the kids as one parent packed up and the other parent supervised at the water. C & H's dad and I swam out with Schmoo, Bean and C on the boogie board and inner tube to the floating dock in the middle of the lake. They have a tower built on top of it that you can jump off of, so C (the dad) and I took turns doing the high jump and then had the kids jump off the dock into the water to us. Schmoo and Bean were both wearing life jackets so were excited to be in the water.

Papa had the site packed up just before lunch time so we drove up the hill to the next town with C & H and their parents and had a picnic at the playground up there. It was a nice way to wind down the weekend. We started back to town around 2pm and made a pit stop and U & L's house on the lake for a bit of a visit and some snacks before we made it home for 4:30pm. We've managed to tidy up most of the gear and get the laundry started. The kids had a long overdue bath and hair wash and are tucked into their rooms, winding down and will hopefully soon be asleep. It was a great family weekend and nice to get away with our friends.