Camping at Calaveras Big Trees

Elaine will be starting Kindergarten in only a few short weeks so we're trying to fit the last of our summer fun into ONE month...JULY! So we took the kids camping at Calaveras Big Trees during Adam's days off last week. So we left Sunday after church and came back Tuesday afternoon. The drive was beautiful and the kids all got good naps on the drive, which was nice. We got to our campsite around 5pm and the unpacking went pretty fast. Adam and I set up the tent in a few minutes and then Adam started the fire so it would have good cooking coals for cooking the hot dogs for dinner and s'mores later. Elaine was obsessed with the idea of s'mores from the moment we told her we were going camping. I don't even know when the last time we had them was, but she certainly expected it, and must have asked four or five times on the drive if we were going to have them that night, so it was a must! While Adam tended the fire i set up the beds in the tent and then we cooked hot dogs and sat around the fire, then enjoyed our s'mores and headed to bed around 8:30pm. It was still a little light outside but Adam and I decided to go to bed when the kids did so as not to wake them when we came into the tent later. Katie loved running around in the tent, it was one of the few places she had freedom, we let her run all over in the tent, our tent is pretty big, it has three rooms and we left the doors to each room open during singing time and prayer. Then we put all three kids in one room for bed, then the middle room was open and Adam and I slept in the third room with an air mattress. The big girls were very excited to use the sleeping bags "santa" brought them for Christmas this year. They're adult size so they'll be useable for years to come, so i just folded the bottom of them under to fit both of them and the play pen in one room of the tent. The night started out pretty well, Katie cried at first when we closed the door to their room, but she fell asleep after a few minutes of crying then we enjoyed the silence and Adam and I drifted off to sleep shortly after. At about 2:30 am, Maggie woke up crying, it wasn't loud but it woke me up instantly and i jumped up and went to their room and unzipped the door. That was all it took to wake up Katie. I comforted Maggie who was merely dissoriented and then i tried to sneak out, but Katie started screaming. It was one thing to let her cry it out at 8:30 in the evening when most other people aren't asleep yet, but not at 2:30 in the morning when the campground is SILENT! I picked her up and comforted her back to sleep and laid her back down, she woke up when i laid her down and the crying continued. so Adam and i took her to bed with us where she tossed and turned and wiggled and cried and eventually fell asleep somewhere around 4am i think (she wanted Adam more than me so i fell asleep sooner than they did) Monday was an early morning, Elaine and Maggie woke up around 6am, up with the sun. we all got up and dressed and had breakfast and headed to the visitors center around 9am, right when it opened. There was a kids class at 10am for 3-6 year olds. The class was all about Lady Bugs and Elaine loved it! Maggie was in a bit of a mood and opted out of this activity. Elaine was very proud of the lady bug picture she painted at the end of the class and we put it on the windshield of the car to dry while we went on a walk around the North Grove.
The North Grove hike was short maybe 2 miles, and very flat and smooth and easy, Katie rode in the backpack carrier with Adam and Maggie and Lainey ran most of the hike. They kept complaining they were tired until we would tell them how strong they were and then they would show off their strength by running ahead, it worked quite well considering i think they were more bored than tired. Adam and i enjoyed the trail and all the GIANT trees, but i don't think the kids were very impressed.
Later that day we went down to the river and let the kids put their feet in, they loved that, so did i! It was hot and Adam and I both really would have rather gone swimming but it just wasn't safe with the kids and the current of the river. Then that evening after dinner we drove all the way to the end of the park and went to the South Grove parking lot. There was maybe one other car there and they were leaving when we were getting ready to head down the trail. The trail was absolutely beautiful, so amazing that despite serious uphill parts of the trail and over 3 miles of hiking there was not a single complaint from the kids. Katie often thrilled us with her " ooh's" and "ahhs" as we hiked , we had to push aside many branches and the trail was almost as opposite as it could get from the North Grove trail, hilly, rocky, and thin....but amazing! the kids really liked the bridge over the river, this part of the river was quite low and on the way back we let the kids play in the water a little bit before finishing the trail back to the car. We were so glad we did this trail and hope to go back again just to do this trail again, it had a side trail that we didn't take and wished we had....so you can bet we'll be back there again soon! Here are some pictures from the adventures!

(above) Elaine and maggie getting ready to get their feet wet in the river

The bridge on the South Grove Trail
hiking up hill on the south grove trail.

last day, had to get this shot before we left, this log was a bench next to the fire pit (metal ring in right side of pic) the kids loved to sit and climb on it!