Daddy is INSANE!

So, I bought a 25 year old Bronco that I've been wanting for some time now (a new toy to replace the soon to be leaving old one-my bike) and I bought a full size one versus the even older style that is smaller (they look Jeepish), so we could take mountain camping trips as a family. Well, last week was spring break and I was able to get a day off, giving me all of spring break to go camping, so we did....leaving Wednesday morning and returning Friday night. The biggest part of the adventure though, was NO MOMMY! Yup, daddy took a 6 yr old, 4 yr old, and 18 month old all by himself. It was a lot of fun and big learning experience too. Daddy now knows that Mr Petey simply cannot wait for food to cook over a fire when he is ready to eat....that boy has a one track mind when his tummy is empty!The campground we went to is called Big Meadows, it is inside of the Shenandoah National Park off of Skyline Dr. Mapquest puts it about 3.5 hours from home, but it took 4.5 with our roadside picnic lunch. We decided on this campground after my firefighter buddy Brent told me what fun he had as a kid seeing deer in his campsite there. Brent was right! We saw about 20-25 deer over the 3 days and had them come within 10 feet or so in our campground. Kelsy had fun trying to pet one!








Luckily I had a big helper...JJ learned how to assemble tent poles!




On day 2, the kids wanted to see the waterfall I mentioned was close to camp. Close is a relative term by the way. After hiking 1.5 miles over some aggressive terrain, we made it to the waterfall. Kelsy and JJ are great hikers and of course so is their daddy. Petey however has been walking all of 4 months, so he is also an exceptional hiker since his hiking consists of sitting in daddy's arms! Of course the kids had to play in the water and since their daddy thought enough ahead to carry a bag full of water, snacks, a beach towel, and swim suits, they got their wish.





Do the kids look cold to you in the near freezing mountain water?Day 2 ending with a cold light rain, leading to a sleepless night for me since all I heard throughout the night was vehicles being started to crank up car heaters. The first 2 days were near mid 70 degree temps with the night of day 2 and morning of day 3 being in the upper 40s, so most campers were dressed for warm weather! It was not a lot of fun to take down a tent with a thin layer of ice on it.

Day 3 was daddy time, we went on a hunt for a off road trail I've been told of another 45 minutes from the campground. It was a hunt because there are no maps to get there and no signage to find it, but find it we did and the Bronco was broken in right with its first mountain trail ride.









The rest of the trip was pretty uneventful, other than a rear tire blow out at 70mph on the interstate. Thankfully, I am an exceptional driver and was able to bring the fish-tailing, lifted Bronco under control without incident. I am very grateful I headed inspiration to not leave the spare tire at home!