Memorial Day Weekend 2018

Coming back from vacation is always the hardest! It's also my last week at home before headed back to work so I'm super bummed about coming back to reality this week. All that being said, we had the very best time at our favorite place this past week! 

Lincoln, Finn and I headed out to Hat Island with my mom last Monday for a full week of island fun! We introduced Huckleberry Finn to the island and while he can't quite enjoy it yet, I think it's safe to say he's a fan. Lincoln had a BLAST and was treated to a few extra special adventures this trip. 

We arrived late on Monday and got settled in. It was the first time Lincoln slept in a room all by himself and he was a champ! I think it helped that he really tired himself out playing in the sun each and every day. Our first full day was Tuesday and we took full advantage. There was plenty of laying low, a slow walk, and lots of fun digging in the sand! 

Later on in the week, my parents neighbors asked Lincoln if he wanted to take a 4-wheeler ride up to the island fire station and he was so excited! He got treated to a special tour and couldn't stop talking about it or "Fireman Bill." 

Thursday night we had the biggest mishap ever, when poor Lincoln woke up in the middle of the night, came into my room and proceeded to throw up all over me, the bed, floor, himself, etc. It was horrible, but he stayed calm and we got it cleaned up and everyone back to bed. He felt much better Friday morning, but I was TIRED. 

Friday evening my dad and Kevin arrived! We enjoyed having the extra hands and Lincoln and Finn enjoyed having daddy around, because he's way more adventurous and fun than mommy is! Kevin and Lincoln enjoyed a few kayak rides as well as some more adventurous exploring. 

Saturday we had some friends out for a few hours. After they headed home and my parents headed to an island dinner, we cozied up with a movie and a fire for the evening. 

Sunday morning we woke up and took Lincoln to the fireman's breakfast! As a fundraiser, they open up the island fire station and serve breakfast. Lincoln was beyond excited to get to eat breakfast inside a fire station, but even more so to see all of the fire trucks again. This kid was in heaven. The rest of Sunday was spent relaxing as we settled in for our final night on the island. 

Now it's back to reality. I'm soaking up every last minute with my Huckleberry Finn before having to head to work on Monday. 

Memorial Day at the Bowl & Pitcher {Camping}

Happy Tuesday! I hope everyone is easing back into the swing of things after a long restful Memorial Day Weekend. We spent our holiday weekend taking Lincoln on his very first camping trip! Little man was so excited and spent all of Friday at school telling his his teachers, "mommy, daddy, me camping!"

We had very low expectations for this first big trip, and as a result wanted to be fairly close to home in case our first big camping adventure was a complete failure. I'm happy to report that it wasn't a failure at all! We did end up leaving early to head home but I truly think that was more because of the heat and lack of activities more than anything else.

Because we wanted to stay close to home, we booked our reservation at the Bowl & Pitcher in Riverside State Park. We originally booked 2 days and had planned on staying Saturday afternoon through Monday morning. The first 24 hours were awesome. Lincoln had so much fun helping set up camp, explore the area around us, dig in the dirt, and playing in the hammock. I had also brought a long paints, and a couple of different crafts for him to do during the downtime which he got a huge kick out of! I also bought him this book to really get him in the mood and to try and alleviate any potential night time fears about sleeping outside. He LOVED the book and the sounds it made and was so comfortable sleeping in the tent.

We did end up leaving Sunday evening, instead of spending the last night there. This was mostly due to the heat (it was HOT HOT HOT) and by about 5PM, we were all getting a little testy with one another. We had planned on spending a lot of time hiking and exploring to take up most of our day on Sunday, but little man was so enamored with the tent and campsite itself, that he didn't want to do much exploring (which is unusual for  our little dude). As a result we spent a lot of time sitting around the campsite, which limited activities (other than the paints and a few toys we had brought along). Because of this, our usually happy camper (ha!) was not his normal happy self by Sunday evening and asked to "go home."

By that point, I was desperately wanting a shower and was not looking forward to another night of sharing a twin size blow up mattress with my wiggly little due, so we decided to pack up early and head home.

The rest of the weekend was spent spending time playing in the backyard and getting our patio "summer ready!" All in all, it was a really great weekend!