We had planned a camping trip to New Ulm with Jeremy's parents and Jackie and Brian early last spring. Then the Dells opportunity came up, but it meant we'd come home from a 4-hour drive, unpack, repack, hitch up the camper, and get back in the car for another 2 hours. We decided to go for it, and it worked out pretty well! The kids were great travelers, and aside from Cooper getting sick, it went great.
I was worried the kids would be vacationed out and ready to be home, but I was wrong :) They loved this part of the adventure!
Flandreau State Park is where we stayed for 3 nights, and although the temp was cool most of the time, we did get to enjoy the sand-bottom pool on our first full day there. The kids loved playing in the sand and the water. You'd think they'd be tired of water after being little fishies all week, but they loved it!
My little poser!
They really do love each other!
We played some new fun games around the campfire. These headphones make loud noise in your ears, and you have to try to read lips to figure out what other people are saying.
In this game, you wear this crazy plastic thing in your mouth and have to get other people to guess what you're saying.
Even the time we spent in the camper was fun! Carson loves to 'play' board games.
On Sunday, we went exploring around New Ulm. Next to the Herman the German statue, there was a really fun park. The kids were having a blast running around...
... Until Cooper took a spill. He lost his footing and smacked his face into a square metal pole. He was screaming, bleeding, in a lot of pain, and very scared. When I got to him, he spit a mouthful of blood, including a tooth, into my hand. After the help of one very nice nurse who happened to be picnic-ing with paper towels and ice, Cooper got fairly calmed down. I got a decent look inside his mouth, and saw what seemed like a lot of big, deep cuts. I lost my head and had to walk away. We all felt so bad for him. It was clear that it really, really hurt.
His lip was really swollen, he had lost one baby tooth, two others were very, very loose, and two permanent teeth were chipped. We decided to play it safe and have him checked out at the ER. Thankfully he didn't need stitches, and the doc said after a trip to the dentist he'd probably be just fine.
While Cooper was getting checked out, I stayed with Izzy, Carson, Gary, and Lori, and we kept exploring New Ulm. Gary took Izzy and Carson to the top of the Herman the German statue.
Izzy found Herman's footprint!
And we were able to pick up Jeremy and Cooper in time to grab some ice cream and see the Glockenspiel.
That evening, I got ahold of the dentist. He said it didn't sound like an emergency to rush him home, so we decided to continue the camping adventure as planned. By supper time, he was still sore, and really swollen... but starting to get a little sense of humor about it. He decided he looked like a tough hockey player.
The next morning, he was much, much better. Those front teeth were dangling loose, but he wasn't in much pain at all. We kept the ibuprofen going for the day, and headed to the second camping adventure--off to Canby with the Biermaiers!!
We were greeted in the early afternoon with a golf cart ride tour of the grounds. It looked like it would be a quiet and fun couple of days!!
Check out the shirt... so fitting for the situation. Thanks, Grandma!! Also note the smile! By Tuesday, he seemed perfectly fine, and was even figuring out how to each without using his loose front teeth.
The kids got to go fishing off the dock. The didn't catch much, but they had fun!!
Carson did NOT want to keep a lifejacket on, but he did want to play on the beach. It wasn't warm, but they didn't care!! We brought swimsuits, but they didn't care about that either :) When you're camping, anything goes!
The big kids went out on the boat and caught a couple bigger ones the next day during nap time for Carson and Anne. Check out these buddies!
We were so happy to see the kids just loved playing together. There was very little arguing, and they didn't really need to be entertained. With the campground so quiet, we didn't worry about them running around a little more freely.
The moms even got to take the golf cart out for a drive!
We LOVE our camper, and already in our first summer with it, we've made some really fun memories!
Our 10-day vacation came to an end... every day was full of smiles, memories, stories, and fun. We can't wait for the next adventure!!
