Camping 101...Juniper Springs, Florida

Alright, the Bates family finally went camping after much coaxing from church friends. =) There's definately lots to share, the good, the bad and inbetween.
Here are some pictures and scroll down for the story.


Rob grilling out Saturday morning's breakfast of eggs and bacon. It was so good!


Some of the springs


More of the springs


Here are the kids all taking a turn at feeling the cool spring water. It was crystal clear and gorgeous.


Rob grilling out Saturday's lunch


Our campsite. Our tent is the one on the left.


I love this picture! It's Avonlea and her buddy Zachary. The two of them have literally grown up together since they were babies.


Avonlea enjoying the campfire at night.


One of the racoons that hung around our campsite. He was definately cute. =)

As I said, this was our very first camping trip as a family and we did have tons of fun. There were some not-so-fun things that happened so I'll share that first and then on to the fun things...

Packing was undaunting. If you really know me, you know I'm a HUGE planner and like to stay organized. My house isn't spot-free and there are usually messes, but they're organized from some type of homeschooling project, a craft or baking thing we're doing, etc. So, being the planner that I am, I had to plan down to the last detail of what we were bringing and how to pack. This is where the problems came. I was TOO planned. We only wound up staying for one night and let me just share about that night. The first thing against us was the temperature. It was COLD! Again, if you know me, you know that I'm a Florida girl through and through. Rob talks about retiring in North Carolina or a colder climate. Um...too cold. I love my beaches and sunshine. Only the hands of God can move this girl. Aside from the fact that it was cold, I'm pregnant and my belly is getting bigger and bigger, thus it's very difficult to sleep at night in a comfortable position. Rob and I each had a blow-up air mattress and one sleeping bag. Although it sounds like I should've been comfortable, it wasn't. If I wasn't prego, I'm sure it would've been just fine (I do LOVE the outdoors), but the belly kept getting in the way. At around 1:00 in the morning, we woke up to heaving, yep, Avonlea was physically throwing up all over Rob and his bedding! It kept coming too. We used up all of our 5 towels to clean it up or catch what was still coming out and then Rob wound up sleeping in the truck with a baby blanket to cover up with because his bed wasn't able to be slept in. So, after cleaning things up in the dark (trying to keep quiet without waking up Lincoln, who did very well by the way), we managed to get two hours of sleep. I kept waking up to snoring, pesky racoons trying to get into our food/supplies, Avonlea talking in her sleep and the sheer cold, not to mention I had to wake up every so often to go to the bathroom (another fun perk of pregnancy!). =) What I would've done for some ear plugs, a heater and a comfortable bed.

Okay, so now that you know the not-so-fun things that occurred, I should definately tell about how much fun we did have! At the last minute, we got word that we were able to share a site with some of our best friends and their kids, we so enjoyed staying up and chatting with church friends around the bonfire at night when our kiddos were sleeping, Rob cooked a great (warm) breakfast of eggs and bacon...yummy! We went exploring through the woods and saw a deer, some gorgeous springs (crystal clear water that you just wanted to jump into...and some people did!), the weather during the day was killer-awesome, the kids were outside playing and getting to know other kids, and we were able to just sit back and enjoy God's creation.

I did learn some great lessons on our very first trip:

1. packed too much food
2. learned about ticks (found about 7 between Rob and I)
3. always pack LOTS of blankets for a "floor" of our tent (poor Lincoln was actually
sleeping on the ground at one point during the night...of coarse I moved him back
into his sleeping bag)
4. expect the unexpected (hello...throw up!)
5. pack warmer clothing
6. pack a heater no matter if it's supposed to be 80 degrees during the day, it's
COLD at night, moreso inland versus where we live nearer the coast/beach
7. pack lots of comforters to sleep on instead of air mattresses, especially when
pregnant

It really was a fun time and although we planned on staying the whole weekend, but left after one night, I'm glad we did. Supposively, it was raining, windy and cold that next morning when everyone was packing up and heading home. It was nice to have Sunday to sleep in (boy did we need it!), get things unpacked and just relax.

This is not to say that the Bates family won't go camping again, in fact, we look forward to many camping trips in the future. BUT, I think the next time we go will be when I'm not pregnant or when we have a newborn. We wouldn't take back this weekend for anything. Lots of fun memories with friends and lessons learned for the future. One thought to leave you with...I have never understood how when looking at God's amazing and beautiful creation, there are people in our world that choose to believe that everything here is by chance. Clearly they have never seen a Florida sunset over the ocean! God is in every bit of creation and it was a great weekend to thank Him for all that He has created!