Camping… German style.

After loading up the van and top carrier with tents (we had to buy a second one), sleeping bags, blankets, food, clothes and everything else you can think of…we piled in the van and drove south for an hour to Schwarzwald… Germany’s famous ‘Black Forest’.  We had been sent this way by recommendation but weren’t entirely sure what we’d find…  and what we did find is that Germans like to camp like they live… very close together.  Almost everyone was in small campers, or trailers that folded out into giant tents.  Europeans vacation in July and August and from the looks of it most of the people here had been here the entire summer.  Note to self: bring ceramic dwarfs and woodland creatures to decorate campsite next time.  Other than the close proximity to our neighbors and us reminding our children to “SHHH, be quiet, we’re camping!” all the time, this campsite had great amenities… an indoor and outdoor pool, an indoor gym and indoor play area for little kids, two big playgrounds, a soccer field up on the hill, a restaurant, a festive German band playing music late into the night, a fenced field of large deer,several trails and a lonely campfire pit up on the hill.   (picture above taken from campfire pit… our tents are the blue/orange and green/grey ones on the right.)

We set up our tents, unrolled the sleeping bags, set up some chairs and made sandwiches for lunch.  All of it was exciting.  We faced our tents to the hill and forest and tried to pretend we were all by ourselves and that we didn’t notice the Europeans actually pointing and counting how many children we had and probably commenting on our tents and our super duper six seater chair.    Isn’t it fabulous?  (Dicks Sporting Goods in Georgia – on sale) We LOVE it… 

I told the kids to do a silly picture and they thought a sleeping picture would be hilarious.  Little Matthew cracks us up.  We were all laughing at how cute he is.  He didn’t want to close his eyes and couldn’t stop smiling. 

After lunch we wandered around, played soccer on the outdoor field and then headed into the forest for a walk.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

We had tin foil dinners for dinner… and they were sooo good. While they were cooking we hung out on the hill up by the campfire and played around the big tree.  My kids were so happy to just be outside.  (Luke LOVES wearing his hood every time he has his jacket on.)

Our day had been nice and warm but with a clear sky and no clouds, it started to get chilly.  The kids were so excited to get into their bed to tell stories with their flashlights.  The kids were warm enough but Chris and I were a little cold… and it didn’t help that we were worried about the little boys being warm enough too. Our best sleep was between 5:00am and 9:00am.  Can you believe it?  We totally slept in.  Katie came into the tent to get Luke changed and dressed when he woke up and then took him off to the park with the rest of the kids (her idea… she is such an angel.)  Little Matthew slept in with us.  We were cooking scrambled eggs and hash browns by 9:30 and were shedding layers by the minute.  Saturday was beautiful and warm again.

Imagine our camping neighbors surprise when we started to take down our campsite after only one night.  I know, crazy amount of work for just one night… but it was worth it. 

After packing everything up, the big kids went swimming and I took Luke and Matthew on a walk in the forest.  Initially we were looking for bears.  Luke whispered that it was ‘scary’ as he quietly lead the way.  Almost immediately he pointed a ways off and said he found a bear.  We walked slowly through the forest until he  pointed at a tree stump and said, “Mom, it’s not a bear.  It’s a little tree.”  After that he was fascinated with tree stumps.  He was still careful around them… just in case they might be bears, but mostly he wanted to climb on them, jump

off, stand on one leg and keep his balance and declare ‘Ta-Da’.  Matthew was fascinated too.  ‘If this is what Luke thinks is fun, then I definitely want to give it a try.’  (This is becoming quite a theme these days.) And although he tried and tried, he couldn’t even get up on one. Seeing his attempts, Luke grabbed his hand and helped him up… and was THRILLED for him once he was up.  It was cute.  After that when they came to a new stump, Lukey helped him… or he made a small attempt before aborting the ‘standing on’ part and jumping right to the ‘Ta-Da!’