Daddy & Kendall embarked on their 1st camping out experience this weekend! The Daddys of our small group planned the entire camping trip for the kids and them ... no Mommys. (Which was great with me ... I had planned a fun girls weekend with Christi instead!) Ash was very excited, since he loves camping and we hardly, like basically never, go! There were several camping essentials he had to get for the big weekend. With fishing practice complete and packing the truck with all their camping gear, the Daddy/Daughter pair were ready for their 1st camping experience! Kendall loved the fact that she was going to be riding in Daddy's new red truck ... she loves his truck ... she tells him often "Daddy, your big red truck is pretty." and "I really like your big red truck, Daddy." She hardly gets to ride in it (since we have one car seat and it's in our SUV), so she was really excited about the drive. I really don't think she really knew too much of what to expect about a camping trip anyway ... her knowledge of camping is based mostly on the couple of Mickey Mouse Clubhouse camping or fishing episodes that she's seen! HA!
Ready to go! (First stop, Landon Massey's 3rd birthday party ... this is the first present for a friend's birthday that she has picked out ... and was proud to give him ... she could hardly wait! They had a great time playing at the Southlake playscape & celebrating Landon ... and then they were off to the camp grounds!)
They decided to try out a new camp grounds for the group this year ... and drove out just north of Denton to Ray Roberts State Park. There were 9 Daddys, each of them pairing up to share the 5 camp spots near the lake. Since all of small group families have several children, most of the Dads wait until their kids are 4 before they go ... so Kendall was the youngest one, being 2 (just a few weeks from turning 3), but she loves all the kids so she had a great time hanging out with all of them.
After setting up camp ... a couple of times, due to the severe wind conditions & tornado storms that were approaching, they all went fishing! (Apparently, most of the Dads decided not to stay the night as the storms were to hit that night. Ash was planning to stick it out, watch the weather and hope it wasn't going to be as bad as the weather channels were saying ... but after putting up the tent once, having it blow down immediately, putting up the tent a second time, having it blow down again and this time breaking the tent poles, he decided they would be coming home after the evening camp fire! Poor guy ... I think between tent fiasco and many, many trips to the bathroom and back to the truck for bathroom breaks for Kendall, sleeping at home was the best idea!)
Off to the Kids Fishing Pond ... they were told the pond had not been stocked in quite a while so they probably wouldn't catch anything ...
Kendall's 1st fishing experience ...
Pretty soon, Andrew Ridgell (4.5 years old) catches a fish! Joe Don & Andrew and their catfish
And then, Kendall catches her 1st fish! First time fishing, First fish ... she's going to think you will always catch something at this rate! All the kids ran over to her as they were reeling it in ... chanting & cheering her on ... Ash said it was so sweet, although Kendall just didn't know what was quite happening or what to expect. She did want to touch it and later gave me a full description of the smooth, slimy big fish that she had caught! She has been so excited about catching that fish ... she's been telling complete strangers all about it!
Then Andrew caught another fish ... a much smaller one this time. I had to laugh at this picture ... since Ash took all the pictures and was showing them to me once they got home, he got to this one of Joe Don and I just laughed out loud. This fish was so small and he is posing so proudly with it ... I just had to add it to the blog! I love Joe Don ... and so does everyone else ... I've known him since high school and I'm so proud of him, who he has become and his sweet, sweet wife Jamie & family! This picture just cracks me up!
Adam, Chris and Joe Don with some of the kids
Walking back to camp ... Ash said that Jillian (who's nearly 7) was so sweet to Kendall and they held hands on the way back to camp. She is always sweet to Kendall ... she is a great big sister ... and she just played with & took care of Kendall, who was the youngest & smallest one there. So sweet ... melts my heart!
Chris and his many fishing pole ... girly pink ones at that! What a good Daddy!
At the main camp site ... all the families gathered for dinner and a camp fire and roasting marshmallows for s'mores!
Biggest marshmallow ever! After roasting it on the camp fire, Kendall didn't want to make a s'more ... just wanted to eat chocolate ... as she told me!
After the camp fire, all the families packed up except for 2 ... Rustin & Chaz. They were secured in the trees and were going to try to stick it out. All in all, despite the weather, despite the broken tent, despite the shorten trip, it was still a fun time out at the state park and a successful 1st fishing experience, with a bunch of fun Daddys and their kids! Daddy is already planning our next camping adventure ... this time Mommy is invited ... oh dear!
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