Camping... Princess Style

I have been waiting for the right time to take Caroline camping and decided she was old enough this summer to head out and give it a try. So, this past weekend we went on her first ever overnight camping trip and, I have to say, we had a great time together.

After packing up our gear--2 parts candy and treats to 1 part stuff you actually need--we left Saturday morning and headed out to the beautiful Tully Lake campground about 1.5 hrs Northwest of Boston. The weather was perfect and we had plenty of time to set up camp before kayaking out to one of the small islands on the lake--aptly named "Mermaid Island" by you know who. Each tiny island had little sand beaches and we spent the afternoon making sand castles, looking for fairy houses, and watching family-friendly "pirates" sail by in their canoes. All in all, just another magical day with my girl.

That night we cooked beans and roasted hot dogs and sweet corn for an appetizer before the main course of smores. As you might of guessed, the smores were a HUGE hit!

After filling our bellies we got all ready for bed and (yes, this is probably cheating) got all snuggled in our tent for movie night. We watched Tinkerbell on Caroline's portable DVD player. It was a great way to wind down for the night and not worry about all the terrifying crickets outside.

The next morning we cooked a nice breakfast and spent a few hours exploring some of the trails all around the lake, some of which led to some really amazing waterfalls.


The highlight of Sunday, though, was Smokey's 65th birthday party put on by the Rangers at the campground--that is after I convinced Caroline that Smokey was a dress up bear and not the real kind. To sweeten the deal, Smokey even had bear-sized pieces of cake and goodie bags, definitely a hit with Miss Sweet Tooth.



All in all we had a great time together and I even got a "I'll probably go with you again Daddy" which, in my book is mission accomplished. Let's just hope Smokey celebrates his 66th birthday next year...