the miserably cold and wet camping trip

I know. A week has come and gone, and I am just now getting around to posting about our weekend of camping with Molly and Andres. No excuses. Camping is seeing the Ozarks at their finest. Spring blossoms, brisk mornings, sunny afternoons traipsing through the woods. Except when it is cold and drizzly and thunderstorming. Oh, and we made the reservations at our favorite walk-in sites at Devil's Den.

At least somebody (Gabe) just got his new summer shoes and was overly eager to try them out, freezing temperatures and all.

The effort of getting all of the stuff to the campsite isn't quite so rewarding when all you want is somewhere dry to snuggle up under a warm blanket.

These two kept the fire going, despite the rain and the need to find all of said firewood. They're pretty much amazing. And competitive. They played lots of rounds of who-can-find-the-biggest-log-and-haul-it-back-to-camp.

Somehow, we even convinced my mom to come and spend a night in the woods. She must really love us.

Liam, as usual, thought camping was fantastic. Mud and fire. What's not to love?

And wagon rides in the woods? All the better.

Here's my favorite picture from the trip. The misty exposure. The necessary mugs of a hot cuppa. And the crazed smiles on our faces that say we can't believe we're doing this.

Sister, thanks for not hating me for taking you camping.

Let's do it again sometime. When the weather is warmer and you have a tent that won't leak in a downpour.