Camping at Devil's Lake, J's first time

We got back from camping yesterday afternoon. What I don't like about vacation, is coming home tired and having to unpack! Even though this was only a 2-day camping trip, we still had a lot to unpack. Originally, we were going to leave early Saturday morning, but because of the cloudy weather we decided to wait. We tried getting J to take a nap but he was wide awake pretty much the whole time just talking and jabbering to himself. When we got to the camp, we registered and J found a little 4-legged friend. They had a resident cat named Elliot who was a beautiful orange and white tabby. J enjoyed petting it but then couldn't resist chasing him and finally Elliot had enough and ran back across the driveway to the house. J was very excited to be back at Devil's Lake (kept asking to go swimming) and doing this thing called "camping".


We met the first couple and went back to set up our tents. I was pleasantly surprised that our tent had plenty of room for the pack-n-play. I hadn't been quite sure if that was going to work out. We set out for the lake and all of us went swimming. The water was really nice once you got all the way in and got used to it. J swam with daddy and me and really enjoyed it. He did plenty of splashing and kicking and then he swam on my back while I had his arms around my neck. Soon after, the other couple showed up and we went back to have some dinner; brats over the camp fire.





Every Saturday they have a dance at the Chateau of Devil's Lake so we went after dinner. They had a brass band playing. I took J out on the dance floor and he just loved it! He was nodding his head to the beat. Once the song was over and I went to sit down, he was asking to dance again. This time daddy danced with him which was so cute. Then he was asking again so I took him out. Very fun. It was really warm in the chateau so I was dripping sweat and then J started to get real cranky so L and I decided to go back to camp. We put J to bed and I did our night routine in the tent. Every night I sing a song to him based on Numbers 6:24-26 and J was singing it with me for the first time. It was sweet. He called out for us for a little bit as he heard our voices but then he was quiet. We broke out the s'mores for dessert and then after talking for a while we headed off to bed in the tent.

We were all up pretty early and headed out to breakfast at the Log Cabin restaurant in Baraboo. It's one of our favorites. J started out really well focusing on coloring but once he colored his whole page, read the couple books I brought, he changed his tune and was not happy. One of those times where everything I offer he pushes away, he cries, he wants out, etc. Then the food came and he settled down again. Later, we packed up the camp site and spent the better part of the day at the lake again. Swimming was really nice. J got cold pretty fast but let our friend Cecile hold him and swim around with him for a while. Then he went in with daddy so I could stay and swim more. We went in the chateau for lunch and while we were there J kept asking for the band. The line was too long so we went home. We had a really nice time.