from the desk of tara hope…

this past weekend i planned a surprise camping trip for husbys 31st birthday! he has been asking me to go camping for months now so i knew he would be so excited for a big weekend trip! i invited a bunch of our closest friends, and while the surprise aspect went horribly wrong the trip itself was a complete and total success!

some good friends of ours let us use their property in uwharrie national park, named shadowlands. it was BEAUTIFUL and we were so thankful they let us stay there.

we got there a little later than we planned, so it was dark when we pulled up and started setting up camp. that just made it more exciting and wild feeling 🙂

adam and matt lee were in charge of starting the fire…

ricky and matt started setting up the tents…

success!

once they got a good fire going matt lee started cooking the hobo packets i had brought…

anxiously awaiting dinner…

after a good nights sleep, we woke up bright and early to a gorgeous day!…

stephen started the fire back up, while hexie watched over the campsite…

it was nice seeing what the camp actually looked like once the sun came up…

the property was beautiful and i had a mini photo shoot with hexie waiting for everyone to wake up…

for breakfast we had toad-in-the-holes, eggs-in-a-basket, bullseye toast, whatever you want to call it, it was delicious!…

after breakfast we went on a walk by the river…

as usual, hexie jumped right in and had a blast…

this is what she looked like for most of the walk, just a big, wet, blur!…

some of us drove further into the forest to go rappelling. the scenery was STUNNING. it couldn’t have been a more gorgeous view from the cliff…

matt lee, stephen, ricky, husby and i all rappelled off a 60-100 ft. cliff (i heard different heights so i dont know exactly how tall it was but it was REALLY tall)! it was so much fun! i haven’t rappelled in a really long time but i was so glad i did it! husby had never rappelled at all and he conquered the mountain like a champ! so proud of him!

mountain men…

getting the ropes ready…

matt lee…

ricky…

stephen…

husby…

i was so proud of amanda! she had never rappelled before so the big cliff was a bit much for her but she did a smaller one and she rocked it!…

when we got back to camp, more of the group showed up for the party!

we had hot dogs and smores for dinner- perfect camping food!

girl photo!…

fire dance!…

love these two photos!…

stacie was our entertainment for the evening, reciting poems, doing her ostrich impression…

the guys did a great job chopping firewood and keeping the fire blazing…

slightly creepy campfire photo…

after stuffing ourselves silly with s’mores we all cozied up in our tents and got a good nights sleep.

the next morning we cooked pancakes and bacon over the fire for breakfast…

they weren’t all pretty but they were very tasty!!!…

after breakfast we took another walk down by the river, where we had an impromptu photo shoot…

big difference between the girls…

and the boys…

when it was time to pack up and head home, i dont think hexie wanted us to pack up the tents, she loved being the camp watchdog!…