Camping with the boys

After spending a plush week in midtown Atlanta sleeping in the comfy hotel beds, ordering pizza and visiting the tourist spots we had to finally leave town and head for home.  While the girls would get home last Thursday, they dropped off us boys at a rural gas station west of Augusta.  We got picked up by a friend and drove down the road and into the woods for a great weekend of camping with dads and boys from church in Savannah.

Before heading out of town we stopped at Trader Joe's to load up on Cookie Butter and noticed that right next door was a Rita's!  We love Rita's in Philadelphia so we of course made one more vacation splurge and loaded everyone up with water ice and custard.

Once we got to Appling, Georgia we found this great property where we would spend the weekend. A friend from church has the property in his family and all the boys were very excited about the two lakes and all the woods and places to explore. There was a great little cabin on site (no utilities of any kind) and a nice fire ring to sit around.

Isaiah was a great help getting the tent set up and was very meticulous about unloading everything and getting the tent organized as well.  But as soon as that was done Isaiah went right out looking for his fishing pole. He has caught the fishing bug for sure and spent every free minute he could by the lake.

We brought our own worms but did not have much luck catching anything the first day.  I don't think Isaiah minded one bit. He would have just kept casting all day probably. He actually asked to go at night too but I didn't think we were up for night fishing yet. Once night time did come though he was ready to sleep. We were the first ones in bed that night.

During the middle of the night I woke up and couldn't find Isaiah. He wasn't on his pillow and I couldn't see him in the tent.  Eventually I realized he slid down the incline a little and also burrowed down into his sleeping bag.  We slept great and were the last ones up in the morning.

On Friday everyone was ready to start fishing as soon as breakfast was over. Liam - whose dad William owns the property - caught the first fish of the weekend. We found a bucket and started collecting the fish caught.

 During the middle of the day we went for a little hike in the woods. Once we got back to the lakes for more fishing everyone really started reeling them in.  Throughout the day we filled the whole bucket and started making plans for dinner.

Charles may have caught the largest fish of the whole weekend - with his grandpa's help.  We caught a couple in time to contribute for dinner. The boys hauled the bucket up the hill from the lake and some great family friends in Augusta came over and fried up all the fish for dinner complete with hush puppies.

Technically, this may be the healthiest thing we ate all weekend. It definitely was the freshest.

 

Q: What do you get with 6 boys under the age of 7 on 1 dock? 

A: 2 hooks in the head (not mine).

 

On Saturday morning, Isaiah and Miles went out with a friend and I in a boat on the lower lake. Now fishing with some rubber worms we were having some better luck. Isaiah may have hooked the biggest fish of the whole weekend.  He definitely needed help pulling it in. 

We spent the whole last morning fishing while lots of the boys went exploring and wading in the creeks. Eventually we found some s'mores for brunch and packed up the camp site after lunch. Once we got in the car to ride home with the Harrell men it did not take long for all the boys to pass out.  Probably my favorite memories from the weekend were seeing Isaiah's demeanor change and light up when he hooked his own fish, hearing several dads at the same time praying with their boys in their tents at bedtime, and watching the boys sleep the whole way back to Savannah. We had an incredible time but I think it took the boys (and dads) a few days to recover from all the playing.