Our new van was inducted into the Nielson way of life very quickly. In its first week of adoption, it received a hitch and a boat-load of camping gear and kids. (We wish it were a literal boat-load, but in this event it was not a real boat. We are excited, however, to try out our new canoe later this summer.)
After months of planning between families, we started our extended Nielson family vacation with a trip to the airport picking up Andrea. She didn't realize she'd have to finish all our packing before we could actually start driving the next day. She's such a good sport. :)
Pennsylvania is not as close as it looks. I guess I was looking at a map of North America. After about 6 hours of towing, including several bathroom stops (did I mention we just potty-trained?), we arrived at Ohiopyle Stake Park in southern PA, just seconds behind Lauren, Ryan, & Annie. Incredibly, we pulled off the surprise of Andrea joining us. While we waited for the fun to begin (Jonathan, Quinn, & Benjamin), we got everything unpacked, tents & tarps up, kitchen assembled, and found the bathrooms.
The rest of our weekend was filled with swings, Cucumber Falls, stars, cousins playing, treasure hunts, slack line attempts, a little sleep, a Sunday sacrament meeting, sling shots, hammock lounges (and/or pirate conquests), Maggie learning to ride a two-wheeler, frequent visits by the park ranger (to the camp next to us), constant attempts to play cards, and food, food food!
I'll let the pictures tell the rest of the story. I know it looks like a long story, but it really went very quickly.
We had a fabulous time with our family and are so grateful they took the time to play with us! Thanks to all for helping put this together. Definitely a tradition worth keeping around for a few more generations!
