We're Going Camping Now...

(anyone familiar with the Kids Praise albums with Psalty?)

On Father's Day weekend, we took our DD on her first camping trip. It had actually been a couple of years since we'd gone camping as a family (having bypassed last summer with me 9 months pregnant). But we got right back into the groove of being in nature: cooking on a camp stove, playing (& eating!) the dirt, hiking to beautiful destinations, and of course, sleeping in a tent (or 'not sleeping' might be the more accurate phrase!).

We arrived at our campsite on Friday evening, with just enough daylight to set up our new 4-person tent, the pack-n-play for DD, and our "luxury purchase", an air mattress! Thanks to our friends who watched & took care of our kiddoes so we could get it all done in time for bed. That first night was rough... it was pretty cold and even with our daughter all bundled up in her pack-n-play, she still fussed throughout the night. We, of course, brought her into bed with us to comfort her and keep her warm...the only problem was that our son was also on the mattress with us! At one point in the middle of the night, all 4 of us were wide awake, just looking at each other and figuring out how to get back to sleep.

But the sun finally did come up, and our kids didn't seem to be hindered at all by the lack of sleep. We had a great breakfast and got ready for a hike. We packed a picnic lunch and headed up for Ely Mountain, which promised a great view of the lake and the mountain range around us. It was indeed a beautiful vista, but it was not an easy hike! The tour guide who was supposed to lead us, ended up with the stomach flu, so our small group of 4 adults, 4 kids (under 5) were on our own! The kids actually did an amazing job.

At the trailhead

I was so proud of them, even at the end when it got pretty steep as we scrambled up granite, they kept up a good pace and didn't want to stop.

We ate lunch at the top (well, I don't think we made it to the very top...), took some photos of the scenery, then did the hard work of going downhill. It really was harder going down, as there was a lot of loose gravel and rock, and it required a lot of leg muscle to control the slipping and sliding.

We gave Papa a fishing rod for Father's Day and our son got a smaller, kid's rod as well. Our son could not wait to go out and go fishing. Of course, it only lasted for about 20 minutes, with nothing caught...but our son insists that it was lots of fun anyway. The kids had a blast all afternoon and evening, throwing rocks into the lake, and playing baseball around the campsite.

Our daughter's favorite activity: throwing dirt & eating an occasional handful...

After another sleepless night (only 3 on the mattress this time!) we woke up on Sunday morning to make breakfast and the boys went out with the other families for some horseback riding. Our son has been on a horse before (our grandpa has an old horse, who sometimes gets brought out at kids' birthday parties) but never in an official way, with a saddle and everything!


From what I hear, it was a fun time...I was happily relaxing in the car while our daughter caught up on some zzzzzz's.

Camping with a baby isn't the easiest thing in the world, but all in all we still consider the trip a success. Gradually, the more we get out and do these things with our kids, we believe that it will build in them an appreciation and love for the great outdoors. This is especially obvious as we watched our 4-year old son on this trip. Not long ago, he was the one who was eating dirt and not sleeping through the night while camping. Now he is hiking up mountains, fishing, and having a great ol'time. He slept great through the night (except for being woken up by his sister) and loves camping. So we have hope that our daughter will get there too. But I think once a year is probably a good pace for us for now.

We rounded out our Father's Day weekend by packing up all our gear and heading down the mountain in time to have dinner with my dad. We are so thankful for the wonderful dads in our family.