Last week was my daughter's second birthday and my wife and I decided to make it a weekend. A few months ago we decided to go camping in norther nWisconsin to a place where she had spent many summers with her family growing up. We invited my in-laws, my parents, my brother, my sister and her family as well as a couple friends and their two kids. It was looking to be a great weekend, and it was, but there were so many things going on, that now we feel we need a break from our break.
It started out with my wife getting stuck working the night shift the night before we were planning to leave. So that meant not leaving until later in the day. Even leaving at 1 like our plan was going to make for a short sleep for her and not much time the first day up there to do a whole lot. However, her parents were up at our house early to help us have everything ready to go. We went food shopping at Costco (and bought enough foood for a week), packed up my car and loaded up their cooler.
We split the days of feeding the crew up between us all so nobody was stuck with a hefty food bill. My family and my in-laws took the first day and we had ample food, if not much too much for everyone. It was a great idea having that many kids and adults all there to have it setup this way.
My sister also took the lead on bringing all the silverware and cookware. I brought my grate to cook over the fire and we were set.
After getting loaded up in both vehicles, my wife awoke and we were on our way. A 3-hour adventure north to find a little relaxation in the woods.
The roads up there were easy and not too heavy on the traffic. I followed my father-in-law for the majority of the trip with their cooler off the back. He was nervous with it being so far off the back of his truck that there would be issues with it sling-shotting open and spilling our food all over the highway. It was set back further than most cargo carriers I am used to seeing, but it worked fine.
My wife and daughter both had some good naps along the way, getting some much needed rest for the two of them was nice and it gave me some peace and quiet. And if I forgot to mention, we had a friend from the shop watching the house and the dogs so we would have a little more sanity on a packed trip.
Along the way we noticed on our smartphones that we were slowly catching up with my parents and sister. My sister had her three kids alone in her van while my dad had my mom and their two dogs in his truck. My sister's husband wasn't able to get time off and decided to stay home for the weekend. Making her hands completely full, as well as her car. Packing for three kids, I can't even imagine.
When we got about 20 minutes out, we realized we were going to arrive first. Probably a good thing so we could get unloaded and help my sister both unload and maintain the chaos that comes along with her kids. We checked in quick, used the bathroom and started to unload. Just as we got our tent up, in rolled my parents and sister. The caravan had arrived!
It made me so happy to be camping with all these people to celebrate my daughter's birthday. The cousins were excited to see each other and spend the weekend in the woods playing, swimming and fishing. It was looking to be a great weekend...
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