Friday night we headed down to Jonathan Dickinson State Park for a one night camping trip.
Kevin and I had some big camping adventures pre-kids.
We went tent camping once when it was just Kaden.
Kevin took Kaden and Blue a few times last year.
This was the first time we went with all five of us.
It was... a good decent first try. We were all set to book a site in the Keys/Bahia Honda for a longer family camping trip later this year, but now we're thinking we're gonna wait on that.
Set up in the evening was fine. Picnic dinner. Tossing around the baseball. Roasting marshmallows. The boys inviting a stranger for some marshmallows (they did, we shared, it was fine). Kaden read the littler boys a few stories.

Blue eating attacking a marshmallow.

Reading in the tent time.

I'm so talented. I can hold a flashlight and take pictures.
Aside from some sand fleas and the fact that Kevin beat me at Scrabble, it was a nice evening.
And then came bedtime.
Toby just didn't sleep. First he wouldn't go to sleep. Luckily our tent is so big it actually has two rooms, so finally we zipped him into his own room and let him cry and fuss until he passed out. That was around 9:30pm. He slept soundly till about 2am and then that was it. He woke up and thought it was time to get up. Blue slept through everything. The rest of us? Notsomuch.
Finally around 6am he crashed again for about an hour.
And then, big surprise, we had a cranky fussy Toby the next day.
We went on a short walk to a river overlook.
Some of the time Toby was into it and walking.

Most of the time he decided to stop. Because, you know, pine needles and sand are so fascinating.

So we took turns carrying him. This worked when Mom did the carrying, but if Daddy tried it was all squiggles and shouting for Mommy.

So that didn't work, but we still made it.

But then, for some reason (oh right, no sleep) Toby threw a big fit when it was time to walk back. Sadly for me, big fits these days involve scratching and hair pulling. Finally, beyond frustrated, I threw him in Daddy's arms and ran ahead on the path. Without me to act up for, he chilled and came along.

In addition to Toby's tired-two-year-old temper, there was another big hazard to this walk. Apparently there was a giant on the path ahead of us. He left some crazy tracks.

I did find it a little suspicious that the word "giant" was written in the middle of this print and that Kaden was walking ahead of us with a stick in his hand, but... you never know. If you go for a walk at Jonathan Dickinson and you come across a giant on the path, don't say I didn't warn you.

We survived.
We had a little playground time where Kaden and Blue played happily and Toby stomped around uber cranky at one point even breaking Daddy's sunglasses when Kevin went to fetch him because he'd stomped too far away. Oy.
Then Toby and I sent Kevin, Kaden and Blue off into the Loxahatchee river (we borrowed a canoe from one of Kevin's coworkers) and Toby and I continued on to a birthday party in West Palm.
Wait. What?
In that state I took Toby to a birthday party? Am I CRAZY?
Yes. There's that.
It still seemed a better option then sticking the kid in a canoe.
Also, I figured he'd get a needed nap during the 40 minute drive and if worse came to worse I'd just let him sleep.
He did nap, but I didn't let him keep sleeping. He wasn't happy about being woken up and right away getting a diaper change, but he was soothed by Teddy Grahams and a fruit bar and I got him composed before we entered the bounce house! kids! snow cones! and petting zoo! birthday hoopla.
Actually the petty zoo was what I'd known would be our saving grace. Toby loves "anmals."

There were baby chicks, bunnies, a piglet, a rooster, two ducks, a mini cow, a goat and two baby goats. I didn't take many pictures because I was too busy making sure Toby was being gentle.
Yup, a traveling petting zoo for a barnyard themed birthday party. LOVE it.
After leaving the party we returned to the park to fetch the rest of the fam. Poor Kevin... About twenty minutes before we got back it had started POURING. Kaden and Blue didn't mind because they love to play in the rain. Kevin was a bit grumpy, and of course it didn't let up for the packing up, canoe mounting, but by the time we were out of the car and gassing up? Clear skies.
Is there any better way to end a camping trip?