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First Camping Trip

Every year Cheryl and I take a weekend trip down to Delaware Seashore State Park while Zoe stays with Mimi and Joe Pop. This year we decided to take a longer trip and bring Zoe along for her first camping experience. It's a really long drive, and we made a few stops on the way down. One of them was at a cool, UFO-shaped house where we took a couple of pictures.



It didn't take long after that stop to arrive at our destination. The weather held out while I set up the tent, which is way bigger than the old one.



Once the tent was set up and the mattresses were inflated, we made our way under the bridge over to the beach. It was pretty cold out, and the water was much colder, but we still spent some time walking through waves and collecting shells and stones.



That night, before heading to bed, Cheryl and Zoe went to the bathroom to brush their teeth. On the way back they called me over to see 5 baby turtles climbing around just outside the building. Zoe was really excited to get up close and personal.



The evening passed uneventful. Zoe slept through the night in the tent and the next morning we tried to go back to the beach. It seemed like it was even colder than the day before. Thankfully the playground was dry and the swinging was pretty intense.



Since the weather looked like it was only going to get worse for the rest of the weekend, we decided that Friday was the best day to head on down to Ocean City. We spent most of the day there and it was packed with rides, games, and fun. See for yourself.



The rest of the trip, the weather was pretty crappy. It was really overcast and then raining on and off. There was a little water in the tent, but we were on inflatable mattresses, so we stayed dry. We decided to go to the movies, where Zoe and I enjoyed watching Despicable Me 3 and Cheryl enjoyed a nice, long nap. We then found a sign for bumper boats and go karts. They had the two-seater karts that Zoe and I have ridden in before, but they also had small ones that she could drive herself. Which she did. Twice.



We also had some fun with the bumper boats, where Zoe kept shooting the water cannon, even though it was freezing out, and switched boats mid-ride.



The next day is was time to go home. When I woke up I realized that I hadn't taken a single picture of Zoe in the tent. Before she woke up, I took this picture of her snoozing away.



Once she was up, it was time to break down the tent, load everything into the car and head home. We decided to take the Cape May-Lewes Ferry back, as Cheryl and I have done every year previous. Zoe was super excited to be on the boat and was trying out a captain's hat in the terminal store.



Once we made it back to shore, we drove up to Wildwood to spend the morning on the boardwalk. There were a lot of games and rides there, but I think it's best to bookend the experience by showing Zoe as we were about to leave and what she looked like the whole ride home.



Zoe was super brave, and went on lots of bigger rides, which was a lot of fun. To see those pictures, and a lot more, be sure to check out the Camping Set on Flickr.

Since this first trip was so successful, we're all looking forward to going on many more camping trips in the future.

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