Camping Themed Birthday + Campfire Cake

This year's annual birthday planning had to include TWO girls since Elodie turned one this month. Harlow turns seven later this month. I needed a cake theme that fit both of them. I went with camping since we've spent the last few months camping as a family.

I made the Stanton State Park pennant with my Cricut and personalized a shirt from Walmart for Colin. Stanton is our last name, but if it was a real state park, we would have tie dye uniforms. 😄

Here are the cake details:

• The cake is strawberry, and the recipe is from Call Me PMc. I was careful to find a cake mix that was milk free.
• The filling icing is bakery frosting. You can find the recipe in this past post. I think it's best to make this icing ahead of time and let it sit in the fridge to let the flavors mix together. I added vanilla in addition to almond extract. This isn't a frosting I recommend making the day of or even day before. It won't taste right. It will taste like vegetable shortening. It needs to sit! A few days before serving, add chopped mashed strawberries. I think this icing is best when it has strawberries in it. You can even make it, strawberries included, and store it in the freezer if it's going to be a couple weeks before you serve it. Take it out to thaw in the fridge for a couple days.
• I wanted the outside icing to be white. I didn't make the bakery frosting for the outside, because I don't like it without strawberries. My youngest daughter has a milk allergy, so I needed a recipe that was dairy-free. I made 7 minute frosting for the first time, and it was delicious! It tastes like marshmallows. I had to mix it for much longer than 7 minutes, but it eventually did get to the whipped consistency. I will definitely be making it again!
• The dirt is gluten free crushed Oreos (wanted to see how they compared in taste to the original). The logs are dark chocolate Pirouline. I followed this tutorial to make the flames. I made the little campers with a candy mold from Michael's and white melting chocolate and food dye. The gummy worms are Albanese-- the yummiest gummy worms in my opinion. I didn't get a picture of the 1 and 7 candles, but they were cute and fit the theme. 😆
• I made Elodie a mini "smash" cake. It also kept her from having the couple items I added to the main cake that had dairy (campers, Pirouline).

Video: First Family Camping Trip to Mt. Nebo + Lake Dardanelle State Parks

Video: Woolly Hollow State Park

Day Date at Mount Magazine: Video + Photos + Details

Earlier this month Colin and I took a day date to Mount Magazine.  It's the highest point in Arkansas, and neither of us had ever been.  We went on a Monday in November, and though there were other people there, we almost had the place to ourselves as we drove around.  We also learned when we got there that November may not be the best month to go, because that's when the fog is the thickest.  As we were driving up the mountain, the fog set in and became so thick that we had to drive below the speed limit.  We could barely see the huge lodge on the side of the road to even pull into the parking lot.  It was the thickest fog I've been in.

[There is a video recap of our trip at the bottom of this post!]

When we got to the top, we first stopped at the visitor center to look around and grab some maps.  Then we drove to The Lodge and The Skycrest Restaurant for a late lunch.  All through lunch and checking out the lobby and gift shop, we could see zilch.  Nothing but fog.  We got back in the Jeep to drive around and as soon as we left the lodge, we saw the fog lift, so we parked and walked back into the lodge to check out the view.  From the back of the lodge, we could see down to the lake and surrounding towns.  It was as though we were hanging out in the clouds.

Once we left the lodge, we drove to Overlook Drive and looked down into the valley.  It was the best view we saw.  It was intimidating to think of how high we were.  The pictures don't come anywhere close to capturing the views.

We went with intentions of hiking, but the fog only lifted for a short time.  We thankfully were able to see quite a view at Overlook Drive, but many of the trails were too foggy and some of the other overlooks were too covered in fog to see anything.

Our plan is to go back in the spring when the weather is still cool but the fog (hopefully!) is less intense.

I'm so glad we went, and we had a nice time, but we didn't see the fall colors we thought we would.  The drought kept the trees from changing colors like we were hoping we'd see (according to the park ranger), and the fog and clouds made everything grey.  That's why all of the pictures look grey and flat.  It's still worth the drive, though, even in foggy November.

Overlook Drive selfie

                    

 selfies at the lodge

 lots of selfies :)

On the way to Mount Magazine, we stopped at Subiaco Abbey, which looks like a castle from the highway!  Colin's grandfather has a room dedicated in his honor somewhere at Subiaco, but we weren't able to find it.  We picked up some of the famous Monk Sauce at the gift shop.  The Abbey is an impressive structure for sure!

Paris, the town just outside of Mount Magazine, had a cute town square, but everything was closing as we were leaving town.  Checking out the town is on our list for our next visit.

If you've spent time at Mount Magazine, send me your tips!