Girls only trip to Nashville

                          

Just got back from a girls only birthday Nurses bash! A friend booked a vrbo for 13 of us and it was awesome!! We stayed in a really nice updated 3 story house 1435 Electric Ave. It was gorgeous and perfect for our group. The kitchen was large and a perfect hang out space for us. There were bed rooms and bathrooms on each floor. It accommodated is all perfectly. We were just across the bridge from the city which was a quick Uber ride back and forth. We all took turns ordering and paying for rides. The location was also nice because it was close enough for some of our party to come back early if they wanted.

Saturday morning we did the “Nashville Pedal Wagon.” This was awesome!!! Hands down worth the money. Our driver was Dan. He was the man! He seriously made the trip so much fun we wanted to pay him for the whole day and never get off. His energy from the minute we got on was awesome! Took pictures for us, made drinks, picked the music and danced and sang with us the whole two hours. I picked this company based on the length of time provided. Not many other companies offered the full 2 hours. This bike also had a pedal assist for hills, provided coolers, ice and music. We passed two other companies out on the road and this companies bikes also looked the nicest. The silver rockets just looked chincy in my opinion. Everyone of us said it was the best thing we did - our ages ranged from late 20s to 40s. Book these EARLY!! They book up so fast. We were supposed to go at 10:15 but they had a public tour at 10:30 they were able to make private and accommodate our group. This was so nice of them. We were afraid 10:30am was still too early but it was the best time! We finished downtown just in time for lunch with a nice buzz which got us ready to take on downtown Nashville!

From here we ate, bar hopped, drank, shopped, sang and danced our selves silly!

Delaware State Park Fall Festival

After seeing my friends photos each year of her awesome camping trips I knew we had to go!!

The last weekend of September is the fall festival at Delaware State Park(Ohio). We had to get on line 6 months to the day in advance to book our spot! Everyone has such a great time each year they all come back, so I was anxious to say the least! I had it marked in my calendar forever and was on in March at 7am! The park is huge and has a bath house in each camping section so we never had to wait to use the bathroom.

We weren’t sure how this trip was going to go with kiddos ages almost 2, newly 5, and almost 7. I was mainly worried about the almost 2 year old who still naps and is in a crib but climbs out of pack n plays. We were supposed to stay Friday and Saturday night. However, the temps began dropping before this weekend and the nights were in the 40s. So with that being said we decided to only stay Saturday night. Friday night we missed popcorn and a campfire movie. Saturday was when the majority of the fall fun was happening! We got there at 9am and set up camp!

There was a decorating contest which I decided not to enter when I saw how great some of the other sites were haha. Last year I had stocked up on some silly stuff at the dollar store after Halloween sale.

                                                   

After setting up our site we caught the wagon ride, that started at 11, to the check in gate. Here they had all kinds of treats and crafts set up by park volunteers. Some were free and some things cost a few bucks. Each kid made a Buckeye necklace for $1 a piece.

Then we all got free ice cream and made fun treasure hunt bottles. We also did a guided nature walk searching for pipe cleaner spiders and learned about the woods as we went. They also had fun contests at the check in gate for the kids to enter.

Right next to our site was an easy hiking trail we did as a family which led to Delaware Lake. It’s was a nice little walk and great getting to admire the outdoors and do something different with the kiddos.

Later in the evening around 5 they shut down all the driving around the sites so all the kiddos could trick or treat safely. At check in you get a tag to show that you were participating in handing out candy.  Just about every camp site handed out candy. All their little baskets were full after just doing our section of sites.

Sleeping:

Being super new campers we didn’t have all the gear needed for sleeping. I know based on the truck pic you’d think we have everything every camper needs! But some how we have 4 tents and no sleeping bags. The kids had their little sleeping bags with their names on them that we set up on patio chair pads. And Emmy we set up in a pack and play. Again worried here because kids her age never stay under the blankets. Keith and I slept on a queen air mattress and we brought and had a bunch of extra blankets. It was still chilly!

Food:

We under estimated ourselves here. We were planning to use the camp fire and this little two burner stove Keith got from his parents a few years ago. The night before the trip Keith was inspecting it and seeing if we needed propane etc... and left it set up in the garage. Later that night after picking up snacks and food, I pulled into the garage with the Jeep and ran right over the stove! Opps!! So while I got the kids showered and put to bed Keith went back out to try and find parts to fix the stove before the morning. 😩

We mostly brought easy foods for snacks and breakfast that didn’t require cooking - cereal and mini doughnuts. After doing soup and hot dogs for lunch and mac and cheese for dinner we definitely realized we could have done a nice hot breakfast on our stove. We also brought s’mores stuff and jiffy pop for around the fire. Some how it took us 3 packages of jiffy pop to get it right. The first 2 ended up being trash.

A few other fun tips to make things extra fun for the kids:

We brought some Halloween crafts to do during the day, glow sticks for the evenings, and fire additive that changes the flame colors. 

All in all it was a great first camping trip and we are already looking for new camp sites to try this spring!! We will also be going back here next year 🎃