Camping, part deux

We went camping again this weekend. Yeah!!! It was 102 F. Booo! We found some good ways to beat the heat, and thankfully, it cooled off to the mid 70s at night, so it was really comfortable. And now, for the recap:

This time we stayed at the Atlantic City North Campground. We chose it because it was fairly close to the beach and not too far from home (a little over an hour drive). We had to do a bit of a campsite hokey pokey when we first arrived since our first campsite had some broken glass on it, but after we landed we got comfortable, took a dip in the pool, and tried out our new pie irons. These are the best camping tool EVAR!

The first night we made pigs in a blanket and the second was pocket pizzas. They cooked up warm and flaky and delicious. Seriously these were two of the best camping meals I've ever had.

The kids really dug it too. Gummy Bear is just strong enough to flip them on the edge of the fire pit. These suckers are made of cast iron and they are really heavy.

And of course, there were s'mores.  After we tucked the kids into bed, we were amused by the "quiet hour" announcement at 11 pm. Someone came on a very loud speaker to tell us to be quiet. Oh, the irony.

The next morning we got suited up and headed for Ship Bottom. The campsite gave us free beach badges, so it seemed like a no-brainer. Incidentally, we also bought a new tent for this adventure. It's enormous. It has a hinged door. And an awning. So, it's not really a tent. But still awesome.

Ship Bottom was a lovely sandy beach that was busy, but not crazy.

Cheeky Monkey wasn't interested in getting in the ocean at first. He had a lovely time playing in the sand though.

Gummy Bear, on the other hand, loved jumping in the waves. He and a new friend had a blast letting the surf carry them up and down the sand.

When we got back, we tried something new: ice cream in a ball. The basic idea is that you put cream and sugar in one side and rock salt and ice in the other. Then, you shake.

And shake.

And shake. Until you have ice cream. It took us about 45 minutes to make a pint of ice cream, but I think we learned some important lessons and it wouldn't take us that long next time.  The ice cream was delicious. We made mint M&M ice cream. Very good.

Saturday dawned hot and steamy. After a morning spent in the pool, we decided to seek some air conditioning and went to see a movie.

Cause, damn.

I'm not really sure what they were doing in this picture, but they were cute, so, whatever.

We had a storm roll through Saturday night, so we rode it out in the game room. Most of these games were around when Ry and I were little.

Today was much cooler (highs in the lower 90s). Check out was at 1 pm today, so we hit the pool for an hour or so before we had to clean up the campsite. There were frogs all over the campground and Cheeky Monkey found this one swimming in the pool. He grew very attached to it. So attached in fact, that he wouldn't let it go until I got the camera and took a picture.  The rest of the story doesn't need words.

We got home this afternoon, and our two very tired boys happily sat down in the air conditioning to watch a TV show. Hurray! We're all tired and bitten, but happy. Another camping trip, successfully navigated.