Wisconsin Camping 2015

After returning from our epic road trip to Mount Rushmore, there was still one last must-do before school got in the way of all our fun: the annual family camping trip with the Seversons!  This family tradition is driven by Ben, who is determined that we will be a camping family.  So, of course, he happily does all of the work of getting ready for the camping trip, right?

Here is our intrepid explorer now, busily sleeping while his wife, 8 months pregnant, gathers tents, sleeping bags, camp stoves, etc.  This is what happens when you get hit with the worst head cold/sinus infection in the history of mankind the day before the trip. Ugh.

But we put on our brave faces and did it anyway.  We were rewarded with a nice drive through Wisconsin forests to our campsite.

This year, our campsite also included a cabin, complete with A/C.  Because, when you're 8 months pregnant, that's what camping is.  It was perfect, really.

One of the fun things about camping in the Midwest is that the critters are different from what you encounter in Utah mountains.  The boys went for a nice morning walk and came back with four frogs.

Here's Ellis with his favorite one, "Biggie."

This was probably the largest one we caught.

Meanwhile, Ben did a lot of sneezing/suffering/sleeping next to the A/C.  A major downside of Midwest camping is that there are no mountains, so you don't get up out of the heat at all.  You just bake in it in your tent.

Even though a more natural pairing would be Henry with Eli and Ellis with Charlie, it was actually Henry and Charlie who were inseparable the whole trip.  Charlie likes being friends with the oldest, and Henry loves imagining up worlds for Charlie to play "the game" in.

We camped near Devil's Lake State Park, WI.  Here we are ready to hike around the lake a bit.

Wasn't long before the heat cut the hike short, and we switched to swimming.

Can you beat pond swimming on a hot summer day?  I think not.

Lot's of muscles in this picture.  And one belly on Ellis.  :)

 Now, maybe you noticed that Sam is not in these swimming pictures.  That's because just before we got in the water he took a pretty good tumble and smacked his head on a rock.  In seconds it had swelled to the largest goose egg I've seen on someone's head maybe ever.  So Ben got the enviable task of scooping him up and carrying screaming him all the way back to the car to relax (but not sleep, since we were worried about a concussion).  You can see some remnants of the blow in this picture taken the next day:

Luckily after a couple of hours he perked up and seemed fine.  That kid is durable.

In this end, this is why it was worth camping, despite the bugs and Ben's sickness and Sam's head injury and the heat:

Sometimes you just have to be able to see the whole sky.

And let the boys play with the fire. :)

 And, you know, just be boys.