The Barnes Family Goes Glamping

Rob and I took the kids on our first camping trip!!  Well, it really wasn't camping.  We were in a cabin and cooked all our meals inside in our kitchen, but still.  :-)

I'd been wanting to do it for a long time and one day at work I looked up Jellystone and we just decided to go for it and booked it!  We had picked the one in Natural Bridge, VA because there is a drive-through safari nearby that we wanted to go to, but we actually never even went there because the kids enjoyed the campgrounds so much!

I took Friday off and at lunchtime we drove to Natural Bridge.  We were able to check into our cabin, get unpacked, and explore everything.  There was a pool area with slides, a splash pad, a giant slip n slide into the lake, a "Wibit" in the middle of the lake, and all kinds of kid activities like bubble parties.  Then we had dinner on our little screened porch!  That evening they had free smores and an outdoor movie.  Fielder could barely stay awake and we called it a night about 15 minutes into the movie.

We let the kids take turns sleeping one night in the bedroom with Daddy and one night in the loft with Mommy.  It was really a very cute cabin!  We had a TV, but sadly the wifi didn't work.  As much as I'd like to fuss about how the kids "couldn't live" without their wifi, I have to admit I was having withdrawals too!  I just wish I had at least brought a book or magazine with me.

Saturday morning we were able to be a little lazy.  The kids were up early, but after breakfast they were happy to watch TV and play non-wifi games on their kindles while we could sleep a bit more.  Then we headed back out for the pools, lake, lunch, and more pool/lake time!  Late in the afternoon we wandered down to the river area and found a gorgeous spot to wade out into the river (really shallow) and sit on the rocks while the water flowed over us.  I'm so mad I didn't bring the kids water shoes!  Rob and I loved it - if only we had a couple floats and a rope to tie us up to a tree.  The beach is my #1, but after that, the view of the river and mountains behind it was as perfect as it can get!
Oh, and they also had these awesome jumping pillows - so fun!

After a round of (free!) mini golf, we went back to the cabin for dinner.  Unfortunately our oven was broken, but the staff made up for it by giving us a free pizza delivered straight to our cabin.  Then we made our own little campfire - I didn't really want one to last a long time so we just gathered up enough sticks to have a short fire, roast marshmallows, and eat smores!!  Then the kids had fun throwing in some newspaper. 

Sunday morning I took the kids back to what might have been their favorite spot - the old arcade!  We played our last games and went to turn in tickets.  It was the most run-down rinky-dink thing, but they each got 3 pieces of candy for all their tickets.

After clearing out our cabin and checking out, we were able to spend another couple hours playing before driving home.  The kids really loved the lake!  Rob was pretty grossed out by it - and at times I was a little nervous they would get hurt, but it was very fun to them!

All in all, I'd say we had a very successful first "camping" trip.  I can't say it's what I would choose to do again, but kids are ready to go back every summer.  I wish I had more pictures of our adventures, but most of the time down by the lake or pools, I didn't even bring my phone.