The Pelhanks: Camping

We were able to take our nephew, Jaxon, with us to our family camping trip this year. That was the best decision we ever made. Brendan and Jaxon had a blast together. And Ryan and I were able to sit back, relax, and let them run. We went to a new park: Onondaga Cave State Park. It was a very nice location, though we were perhaps the only tent sleepers. That's because it ended up getting into the low 30's the evening we stayed. The boys slept great, but us old people had a hard time with the cold. But during the day, it was pretty beautiful. Typical springtime, here in Missouri.

The boys did so many things over the course of our camping trip. They hunted for bugs and other creatures, drew with sidewalk chalk, raced around the campsite, made s'mores, had sword fights with sticks, helped pitch the tent, played with lights when it got dark, roasted their own hot dogs, and I'm sure much more that I'm forgetting to list here. But their favorite activity was hopscotch. I taught them how to play, and they played it over and over again. Who would have thought that hopscotch would be their favorite activity of the weekend?

They were most looking forward to our walk through the Onondaga Cave. We saved that activity as our last thing before we left the park. They started the hike through the cave just fine: Brendan was a little tentative because it was so dark (and they kept talking about bats, which I think he pictured as the scary & huge creatures that you see on TV). But Jaxon would reassure him by taking his hand whenever space would allow as we walked through. (It was really cute). Come to find out, the bats were tiny. No bigger than 2-3" and were all asleep. No bats flying above our heads, thank God! But as the walk through the cave went on, the weekend started to catch up with the boys. Jaxon got to the point where he couldn't walk any more (according to him) so Ryan had to carry him through half of the cave. He even fell asleep on his shoulder! Poor Brendan was having trouble, too, but I wasn't strong enough to carry him the way Ryan could. He just had to muscle through it. We made it through the cave...Brendan thought it was pretty cool, and Jaxon did too (what he saw). After that, we headed back home.

We kept Jaxon for one more night. The boys made english muffin pizzas, rented a movie, and camped out on our playroom floor. The next day was the most beautiful day of the whole weekend so we went to Faust Park where we had a picnic lunch, played on the playground, and rode the carousel. After which we went back to the house so the boys could play while we waited for Aunt J'me to pick Jaxon up. I think by the time she arrived, Jaxon was pretty homesick. Everyone had a really fun weekend, and it was especially nice to spend some time with Brendan (and Jaxon) without the baby around. He needed some one-on-one time, and he sure got it. Can't wait for next year.