Our First Camping Trip! (post by Alyssa)

On September 4-5 we decided to take a camping trip for Daniels birthday. We went to a wonderful and secluded spot about a half an hour out of the Palmer City. We set up our tent and picnic area quickly. However it didn't stop raining the whole two days. By the time the trip was over, everybody was cold and wet. We ended up using more firewood then we anticipated so we raiding empty campfires for extra wood. The first day we arrived at the campsite at 2:00 nearly hitting a female moose along the way. Everybody helped pick out the campsite and assisted in setting up the Tents and food area. We brought the dogs along but they refused to stay outside the van for long because they disliked the rain and wet. The longer it rained the lower the temperature dropped and the muddier it became. And by 6:00 everyone's skirts and pant ends were wet and muddy including James muddy outfit. Everyone was wearing a jacket and staying close to the fire. By 8:00, our Tent had damp walls sealing in the cool air of the tent. The boys accidentally left open the smaller tent and one of our blankets became soaked and rendered useless. By 9:00PM Mom and the three younger children decided to head home, there wasn't very many blankets to share and with them being so wet and cold Mom was worried that they would get sick. She decided to come back in the morning and participate in our hike. The rest decided to tough it out with Dad and we ended up staying out of the tent till 11:00Pm because we didn't want to leave the fire. Sleep was hard and the rain sped up and started leaking into our tent soaking some pillows and another blanket, our socks were wet and we slept on the cold ground only snatching a few minutes of sleep here and there. By 5:00Am the kids got little sleep and poor Dad got none. Deciding to start the Fire Dad got up only to find our shoes in a puddle of water soaking wet. When mom and the littles got back at 6:30 AM We canceled our hike and went home cold and tired.Safe to say we feel asleep super easy that night in our warm beds. It still was a great time of memories!!
Lesson well learned, Cancel an Alaskan camping trip if it raining unless you have the right gear ;)

Dinner of steak and beans YUM!!

So-mores

 Attempting to dry our socks before bed

In the morning Dad went to slip on his shoes only to find that all of our shoes were sopping wet, the tent leaked right above our pile of shoes and they ended up staying the night in a water pile. Dad slept under a dripping area of water so his Pillow and beanie became wet. With our Hike canceled we ended up eating some sausage and drove back to our home.