Daddy Daughter Camping Trip

Avery stands in our newly erected tent

This weekend Avery and I went on a daddy daughter camping trip with 10 other dads and 11 other little girls. Big thanks to Matt O. for arranging everything - it was awesome.

It was the first time either I or Avery had been camping in the US. So, armed with a brand new tent, brand new sleeping bags, brand new camping chairs and a bunch of food and drink, we headed down to Silver Falls State Park near Salem, OR.

Our first job was to set up the tent. Avery was very helpful and also very proud of the result. I would like to point out that the Mike's Hard Lemonade outside the tent was mine not Avery's :)

All the girls together

Next we got all the girls lined up for a quick group shot. Notice that Avery already has a plate and is busy tucking into some special camping hard boiled eggs.

Luckily one of the dads had stopped at the dollar store on the way to the camp ground and bought a whole bunch of watercolor paint sets, so we had a group activity to keep the girls busy while the experienced campers got the fire started.

And finally it was time to cook some hot dogs and s'mores over an open fire. I'm sure mommy will do a much better job of editing these later, but here are some unedited videos of Avery cooking hot dogs and enjoying her first ever s'more.

  

Avery Making Dinner

Avery Eating S'mores

After dinner the dads tried to put their respective daughters to bed with varying degrees of success. Avery was good at first, but then unzipped the tent and sat outside until I came back. In the end we both fell asleep in the tent together. Just before falling asleep Avery announced "What a great day!"

The next day Avery put on her hiking shoes and her favorite green polka dot top and we went hiking to see the North Waterfall. Here are a couple of pics from our trek.