the great outdoors.

i got back from my work trip friday night and, despite being fairly worn-out from travel, we decided to pack up our gear and take the kids, dogs and ourselves camping saturday night. we haven't been on a family camping trip since 2012 when ek was 16 months old or so, so we thought we'd give it another whirl.

jb had everything pretty much prepped when i got home, which was amazing. tent, blow-up mattress, tarp, blankets, snacks, and a brisket on the smoker, ready to be pulled off and hauled to the great outdoors.

we trekked to liberty hill, which is only about an hour away. some friends know of a crew that's been doing a campout for texas independence weekend for 40+ years (same campout we joined in 2012), so we were pretty familiar with the sitch. we also invited some friends to join and several families took us up on the offer, so it was quite a little party.

the kids did amazingly well and the dogs had the time of their lives. fresh air, fire, peeing in the woods - it doesn't get much better. between the collective, we had enough food for probably 3 days, but we managed to put quite a dent in it. brisket tacos with pickled onions and crema, campfire potatoes, chips & guac, hot dogs, s'mores, the list goes on. we did not lack for snacks.

once it got dark, the kids all put on their pajamas and got flashlights and frolicked around. they were all pretty exhausted by 8 or 9 (i didn't really have my phone around, so who really knows?), so they each got into their respective tents and cuddled up for the night. the temp dropped into the 50s, so it was pretty chilly, but nothing compared to the 30s on our last camping adventure. there were a couple of wake-ups here and there, but i was pleasantly surprised by how well the whole crew handled it. after the kids were down, the adults spent some quality campfire time talking politics.

the morning after camping is always kind of touch-and-go. you've schlepped all this stuff out there and you want to make the most of it, but you're pretty tired, sometimes cold, and ready to shower and pee in a real toilet (and brush your teeth in a real sink). we heated up leftovers and did a slow re-pack of our stuff and made it home by 11 or 11:30, which was awesome. the kids immediately took a great bath and went down for a 3+ hour nap. i can see us doing this again soon...