Camping Trip

Let me just start by saying that I was really apprehensive about going camping. I was raised by a mother (heaven love her) whose idea of camping is a nice hotel or lodge in a rural/wilderness area. So my last experience camping was with my dad about, oh, 20+ years ago.... Not really having been exposed to the outdoor life, I didn't have much desire to go camping, and Scott, in his wisdom, let me come around to the idea for myself before suggesting we give it a go. So for the past year or so we've slowly been stocking up on camping supplies and we thought we were pretty prepared. Well, it's a good thing we went with my friend Jami and her family. They are big campers and they had so many things that we would've never thought to bring that we really ended up needing. It'll definitely be a learning process.

We were keeping an eye on the weather report for about a week and a half before we left but it seems like it changed every day, so we didn't really know what to expect. So we ended up packing a ton of clothes for any weather situation. Most of it didn't get used, but boy were we prepared, clothing-wise. We ended up getting rained on for most of the trip, but it really wasn't too bad. It poured overnight a few times but we had a great tent and stayed dry as a bone. During the day it rained a bit, but we never got poured on, and we had breaks of dry spells too. And between the canopy and tarp strung up from the trees, we had dry places to retreat when needed. The single most valuable clothing item we brought with us were the boys' Oaki Wear one piece rain suits. These things are super and between them and the rain boots the boys stayed warm and dry the entire time. Holy lifesavers! If you live in the NW and have young kids, GET ONE!

The boys did great sleeping in their sleeping bags. We were a little worried about how Pumpkin would do. If he would stay in his sleeping bag at bed time or if we'd have to fight it out with him. I wondered if he'd be out and crawling all over everyone else's things or if he'd be so tuckered out that he'd just crash. We were brave and decided to leave the pack-n-play at home, so this would really be one of the first times for him to go to bed without being confined to a crib of some sort. Turns out we were worried for nothing. He was a total trooper and (after the first night) crawled right in and stayed put the entire time. Very surprising. The first night he had a bit of a hard time, and started crying when we left them in the tent. In one of the sweetest moments I think I've ever experienced as a mom, we heard Mister crawled over to him and start singing "I Am a Child of God" to soothe him. Singing usually has a good, calming effect on Pumpkin and whenever he's having a hard time, especially at night, I always sing church children's songs to him to calm him down. 9 times out of 10 it works. Well, Mister must've been paying attention all those nights and did exactly what I would've done had I been in that tent. All of us adults were sitting around the fire listening to Mister sing this sweet song to Pumpkin and it nearly made me cry, it was so sweet. He really is a nurturing, loving little boy and completely melted my heart in that moment.

We hung out, the kids played in the forest (in full view of the adults, no worries), took trips to the nearby creek to skip rocks (or just throw them into the creek for the boys), checked out a local waterfall and rock quarry, played games, ate way too much, roasted marshmallows, etc.

 

I definitely had a great time, wet weather and all. I think next time though, I'd like to maximize my chances for nice, warm weather by going in July or August. Maybe someplace with a lake where we can spend time playing and sunning our pasty selves (yes, appropriately protected) after a long winter.