Camping with G & P

The weekend before July 1st we had a fantastic time camping with Grandma and Papa in Minot. Trevor and I were able to sneak away for a nice anniversary supper at Applebys before doing some on our own, childless shopping!

The kids had fun at the camp ground playing on the play structure, running around the site, playing in the tent and doing things in the camper. All was well until the middle of the night when with Ethan on one side of me, Megan on the other and G&P in the other part of the 5th wheel, Ethan began having a night terror. Crying and screaming ensued and nothing I said, promised or threatened stopped the onfolding nightmare of a scene. As I anticipated the crying woke up G & P (how could it not - It woke up Trevor in the tent 10 feet away!) and then it woke Megan. While I new that I could count on G & P to go back to sleep on their own , after Ethan settled down, Megan was wide awake and chatty. While it felt like hours it really only lasted one but in the middle of the night that is one more than I had hoped for. Next time I am sleeping in the tent!

After surviving our disrupted night we continued on with our plans for the day. What's a trip to Minot without a stop at the zoo. Ethan loves the animals and Megan didn't remember much from last year as she wasn't quite one. Against our better judgement to take kids out after little sleep we ventured to the zoo with our picnic lunch and our bathing suits for the pool after.

The zoo was fun but as expected tired kids = some miserableness at times. Difficulty in deciding which path to take was our first clue that the day may be a challenge!! Again we persevered. Led by Ethan and Sarah, at a speed walkers pace, we zipped through the exhibits to see the animals.

After the zoo we headed to the park next door for our picnic lunch. It was a beautiful day and somehow sandwiches etc just taste better when you are on a picnic. We were all having great fun until Ethan spotted a rabbit in the bushes beside us. As he watched it intently he accidentally backed himself right into a little pond. Yup ass first he landed up to his neck in water filled with some blue chemical to kill the algae. I would have loved to take a picture but he was so traumatized we had to scoop him out before we could get the camera out. The poor kid - of all the days to dump yourself into a duck pond, one where you were tired was not the best option. Dripping blue lake water and tears galore we expedited our trip to the pool in order to get him rinsed off.

Once at the pool we were happy to discover that it had a few water slides, a kiddie area, and lots of room to jump and swim. It will definitely be on our list to do again while in Minot!!

I have to include these last two pictures. A strange coincidence but we ended up at the zoo on the exact same day (our anniversary) as we had been their last year so I took the same sort of picture by the monkey cage for prosperity sake. Megan has changed the most as evident with the hair but Sarah definitely grew as did Ethan. Guess we will have to make this an anniversary tradition( hee hee -- sorry kids but not likely - by year 15 we had definitely better be someplace besides the Minot zoo)