First Time Tenting

It's mid-term season. Time to panic and study a lot. Apparently, it's also a good time for everyone to get sick. I missed an important day of training at the zoo because I had some kind of 24 hour stomach bug. I also missed an important day of standing in the passport line at the post office because I chose, instead, to spend that day waiting at an urgent care clinic so I could get an antibiotic prescription.

I managed to make up the passport day, but I'm still not sure when I'll get to make up the zoo training. Oh well. It could have been worse. At least I was lucky enough to have Papa stay home so I could rest. He even called in for me. Sweet guy.

Now, I want to take a moment to revisit some of the good times.

About a month ago, before all of this mid-term/sick business started, we all went camping with some friends. We had been trying to figure out how to go since the Cub started sleeping through the night, but kept talking ourselves out of it. How do you take a little guy camping with you? Was he going to sleep in a pack-n-play? What if he wouldn't sleep? What would we feed him? How are we all going to fit in our tent with a pack-n-play anyway?

Now, he's been sleeping in a toddler bed for months and eating what we eat for well over a year, but we didn't like the odds: 2 adults vs 4 small children, so we continued our holding pattern. Then, we realized that we have some amazing friends who also love camping and being outdoors. Who'd have guessed that we'd be friends with people like us?

They picked the camp site, helped us out with some gear and brought camp food. In fact, they handled a lot of the logistics, and I don't think we could have done it without them. Their preparedness allowed us to spend our time watching the kids and enjoying the experience. It was the first time the kids had been camping at all, and the first time I had been camping since I was a kid.

There's a learning curve. Just like playing video games, using new lab equipment, tap dancing and baking, it's probably best to take your kids camping for the first time with people who have a lot of recent experience with kids and camping (if not combined, then separately). I'm thankful we had some help. Besides, these people are good company.

We had a lot of fun. The kids explored the wilderness with practically every moment they could. They also got a lot of entertainment out of a glow stick and some red flash lights once the sun went down. We built a fire, roasted marshmallows and made s'mores. We all had/got to pee in the woods.

That, by the way, is a unique adventure. I think every kid should get to do it. The Cub is potty trained, and will stand to pee in the grass, but he relied on his potty the whole time we were out. Papa and I had to find places to dump/bury the contents. The girls, however, all took care of business like the grown ups... with only one, unfortunate incident.

We slept like sardines in our "6 person" tent. The Cub only complained that he wanted his bed for several minutes before passing out and sleeping the whole night through in his mummy bag. The girls all claim that sharing a tent with him was the worst part of the weekend, but I can't really imagine how.

It was cold and frosty when we woke up. It was definitely nearing the end of the campable season for leisure campers like us. The mummy bags we borrowed from our friends were lifesavers in the cold night, but the morning view was beautiful. Probably my favorite part of camping is waking up with the sun and enjoying the scenic sunrise. I always feel more awake after camping than I do at home.

We played and explored for the day, headed back down the mountain a bit for lunch, and then went home. The kids were all a little disappointed to be going home. I'm sure they're excited to go camping again, but we won't be able to sleep in that tent again until the warm weather comes back.