memorable

This weekend, for the very first time, our family went on vacation (if you can even call it that!) as a family of three. Aaron and I used to go camping with our families, but we haven't been since we've been married. After learning that these friends were caretakers at a campground about 45 minutes from our house, we reserved a campsite and started planning our trip. We weren't sure how Camille, would do, but we decided it was worth a try!

Looking back, I think I can safely categorize our trip into three distinct parts: dry, mostly dry, and very wet.

THE DRY:

Although we had been worried that the weather would be too hot, when we got to the campground we found that it was actually quite nice out. Aaron set up the tent all by himself while Camille and I wandered around. On more than one occasion I fished acorns out of Camille's mouth.


We spent much time taking shoes off and putting them back on. Such is life in a tent. I will be SO glad when Camille has learned to put her own shoes on. But for now, she enjoys taking them off and velcroing them onto her hands.

We took a little walk to check the place out. Visited the pond and the park, woofed at the many dogs we walked past.

And, much to our surprise, she slept GREAT!

THE MOSTLY DRY:

We'd made plans to go to the beach and eat dinner with our friends and some other friends. On our way down to the beach it started sprinkling. We kept going.

The kids had a great time at the beach, despite the fact that it was so windy that one of the children nearly got their head taken off by a fly-away chair. Camille and Small Fry weren't too into playing together, but seemed to enjoy each other's company all the same.

Oh, and Camille at more chips yesterday than she's eaten in her entire life. She also ate more sand than she's ever eaten in her life.

Poor sweet Stellan became the victim of his big sister's sand scooping fun. He didn't seem to mind at all, although his mama was a bit bummed since he had just had a bath the night before!

The kids also ate many cookies. I think I've discovered a flawless formula...cookies + chips + plenty of water = kids having fun!

THE VERY WET: (you'll notice...no photos)

After the beach we drove back to the campsite to enjoy dinner (chicken salad sandwiches on croissant rolls). It started sprinkling again. Hmmm. I decided to go pick up the tent, you know, just in case. The sprinkles turned to drops, and the drops turned to downpours. Before I knew it, we had a tent full of seven kids, four adults, and many chicken sandwiches. Chaos ensued.

We finally kicked the kids outside when we realized it wasn't going to stop raining. Our friends all went home, and Aaron and Camille and I waited out the rain in the tent. It stopped raining just long enough to go to the community campfire for s'mores and get back to the tent to put Camille to bed.

5 AM. More downpouring. Some thunder and lightning. As soon as it stopped raining we packed everything up and headed home. That is, after we had one of our camping neighbors come over and jump start the van because the battery was dead.

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All in all it was a nice weekend, albeit a bit wet. One thing I'm glad we know now: camping is totally doable for us, with Camille. It's great to know that she had a fun time and was still able to sleep. I'm glad that we'll be able to plan more camping trips, knowing that they can be enjoyable. But next time I'll be sure to keep a close eye on the weather forecast!