Camping and Ice Cream

I love camping.

It was a significant part of my childhood, with us going on multiple annual camping trips with family. I have been to a lot of the campgrounds in Minnesota; some of my favorites being Jay Cooke and Itasca. We always tented and have many hilarious stories of waterlogged tents, animals rummaging through our food during the nights, having to wake up a billion times to go to the bathroom, and the infamous stories of me putting a s'more on my aunt's camping chair only to have her sit on it and later get it all over the inside of her sleeping bag, [I was only 3 then!] and the story of my cousin burning her marshmallow and my uncle grabbing the stick to blow it out, only to have the marshmallow fly off, still burning and land on his nose.

Matt grew up camping as well, first in a tent and then in a pop up camper when his family bought one. We have been camping several times together, at the local Crosslake campground. His family goes to that campground at least once a year, and if possible, we come out to join them.

This year, Matt and I photographed a wedding all day on Saturday, but were able to join his family at their campsite for most of Sunday. First item on the to-do list when we arrived was go to a local ice cream shop for a treat! This shop is famous for not only huge scoop sizes but for what they call the "doozie." Basically it's a waffle cone with three humongous scoops of ice cream on it. If you order one, you get your photo taken for the doozie wall. Matt and Ty both decided to take on the doozie challenge.

Matt's sister is always so cooperative when I try to take photos! :) She told me, "There will be no smiling photos when I am eating ice cream."

After the ice cream and waiting to see if it would mess with anyone's stomach [it didn't], we walked down to the lake to check out the swimming area. Matt and I hopped on the teeter totter for an updated photo. We took one just like this in I believe 2005 before he joined the Marine Corps.

It was only for a day but it felt extremely good to escape the computer and my to-do list and just breathe in the air for the day. And to top it off, it didn't rain and the sun came out. What more could we ask for?