Camping Trip

So we went camping and it was awesome! We went on some great hikes. Elk mountain nearly killed me! Friday there was a buffalo right by our tent! The whole time we were thinking of Marcus, of course. We called him every night. On Thursday Marcus' foster mom told us that Marcus was dying to see us and that he thought we were coming on Saturday so we decided to go get him Saturday morning to camp with us overnight. We went ahead and left on Friday night. That night as we were leaving a big buffalo came to our site. It was so freaky! Those things are big. Marcus had never seen a buffalo. So we go home and sleep without our pillows since we left them at the campsite... We get up early and meet Marcus and take him to buy a camp chair. The kids had a blast at the store picking out camp chairs, candy, and water bottles. Marcus told Mike that he loved him and then he hugged him. He told me that he wanted shoes just like Daddy's. <3 Things went well. Well we get to the campsite finally and everyone liked him a lot. It was awkward. We went on some walks and it was cool. I am not going to lie, it was extremely stressful for us. It was our first overnight, we weren't sure how to discipline him, there was too much candy, he was super pumped and amped up, it was just a lot to handle. I agree with the case workers that maybe camping for the first visit was just too much. What made it all worth it was the fact he had a blast. He found a buffalo and he really enjoyed that. All in all it ended up being a great trip. He is a sweet kid. He listened. The kids played well together. He was clearly bonding with us. He did have trouble sleeping in that tent which we thought might happen. He got to roast hot dogs and thought that was fun but he spilled chili on the front of his shirt. He worried about it for awhile then finally asked if we were still glad he was with us even though his shirt was dirty. That broke my heart. Thankfully I was able to show him Claire's shirt which was covered with something red from earlier...haha We then went to Meers the next day. I was still stressed by all the newness of our situation. He took his ADHD meds and we went to eat and fell asleep at the table. Something amazing happened at lunch. Claire actually sat there for lunch, she didn't get up...He peer pressured her into behaving! I could not believe it! lol. But we did see that he fell asleep after taking his pill. The kids fell asleep in the car on the way home. It was precious. Their heads were touching. We came home Sunday afternoon and he got to see our house and his room. His bed wasn't ready yet so he knew he wasn't going to get to stay the night. That made him sad. He was very clingy to us. The kids really played a lot. <3 They had a blast. We ended up taking him back to his foster mom that evening. It was really hard on the kids. We came home and finished up his bed so he'd have his room ready to sleep in.