Let me address the elephant in the room... It's been a LONG time since my last post. I know. I have a lot of work to do to fill in the gaps -- it's coming. Be patient with me! (I have updated
Through My Picture Window... have you looked?)
This Memorial Day weekend was a special one. Not only did Dan take the entire week off, we took our first camping trip with the kids. And I mean full out camping. Building fires, peeing in a pit, sleeping in a tent kind of camping. Some might think we were crazy to attempt this with a 2 year old and a ten month old but we were willing to face the challenge head on.
As we were thinking about what to pack I started getting a little nervous about fitting our queen air mattress (I don't mind sleeping in a tent but I don't sleep on the ground. That's where I draw the line.) two pack-and-plays, and Rusty's pillow all in the tent and having enough room to maneuver. So we set the tent up in the backyard a couple of days prior for a test run.
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We told Nora a tent was kind of like the castle in her room
so she kept referring to it as "the castle". |
It went up got cleaned out and we put everything in. Nora loved being in there and didn't want to get out of the tent to go inside for lunch. A good sign for the weekend to come. I hoped.
Monday, we set off to Kettle Moraine State Park Southern Unit (in Wisconsin) to start our two night trip. Go big or go home, right? Right. That's why we decided for two nights... ambitious.
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| The car was PACKED and ready to go! |
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First things first... set up camp for the night.
Rusty already making himself at home. |
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| Then start dinner. |
First night's dinner was spaghetti and meatballs. Not a typical camping meal but we had Dan's special spaghetti sauce frozen in the freezer so I brought that, made meatballs and the noodles the night before and packed it all into the cooler. We have a table-top propane grill and a kettle so it was simply a matter of warming it up. Not to mention -- it was kid friendly. Even better.
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It was Myles' first time eating spaghetti. He loves meat
of any kind so he enjoyed the meatballs best.
Look at that saucy face!! |
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Nora and Daddio (as she referred to
him ALL weekend) |
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| Uh... is there any more under here? |
Great start for the first night.
Then the rain started to move in. We packed anything that was out into the tent and our car and decided to drive to the nearest town (Delafield) for ice cream and wait out the rain.
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| French fries and ice cream... nothing better. |
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| After ice cream it was still pouring. |
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But after a stop at Wal-Mart (I forgot
Myles' sandals) the rain had cleared and God
sent a rainbow to let us know it was safe
to head back to our tent for the night. |
Both the kiddos fell asleep on the way back to the campsite. Nora transferred nicely, falling asleep right after we got her pjs on. Myles, on the other hand, thought it was party time. We got his pjs on and then layed him down just to have him pop right back up. I tried to snuggle him laying down, hold him, nothing worked. He just kept bouncing around. He was the happiest little thing but c'mon!! It was 10:00 and counting! He crawled around and on top of us on the air mattress until 10:45 and finally gave up. Luckily, Nora slept through it all.
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Dan and Nora trying to build a fire in the morning (with
damp wood...). Nora is blowing on it trying to get it going. |
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Chocolate chip pancakes on the menu for breakfast.
Only Nora got chocolate chips (she was more likely to eat
them) |
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Myles loved them. And of course he loved the boo-lees.
(that's blueberries in Nora-speak) |
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The sun is rising along with our hopes
that it was soon going to get warmer
and dry out completely. |
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| Nap time after breakfast and a walk. |
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| and Nora pretending she was napping too. |
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All weekend long any time we'd ask her to smile for a picture
she'd smile and then stick her tongue out.
All. Weekend. Long. |
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| Here Mom, I'll help you make a silly face. |
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| Silly girls with silly faces. |
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This beautiful trail ran right at the back
of our campsite. |
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We did some exploring of the trail while Myles was
napping.
Did you notice? That tongue is out again?! |
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| Looking at our site from the trail. |
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| Cutie hair-do. |
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| Myles is up! Time to walk to the playground! |
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| tongue... |
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Just as we expected - the sun rose
along with the temperature! Perfect! |
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This playground was our saving grace. If it wasn't there,
I'm not sure what we would have done to keep them
entertained. I'm sure we would have found something. |
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It was hard to move the toy on the bumpy grass but it
didn't stop him from trying. |
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We were the only ones around so we let Rusty go and
let him run free after the tennis ball. He was in heaven. |
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| And then he was a well rested, content, and happy dog. |
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| Any good mama lets their baby have time in the swing. |
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| Both swings. |
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She set baby up in the stroller to face her in the swing
so she could watch her swing. |
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| Time for lunch. First time eating peanut butter. |
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Dan's favorite creation from when he was a kid...
peanut butter and jelly with Cheetos. Even better
if it was Dorritos. |
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| family photo before bed |
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I made Nora her first s'more. I was positive she'd love it.
She likes all ingredients separately. And it really seemed
like she was enjoying it. |
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She kept taking bites. Then I asked if she liked it. She said,
"No. Ready for bed." She handed me the s'more and started
walking towards the tent... ok, then. |
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She went down quickly and quietly. I guess that's what all
day outside will do to a girl. So that meant it was time for
us to enjoy the fire, an hour more of daylight, and our books. |
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Good morning! Time to play!
We brought two sheets to spread out so he'd have a
place to play that wasn't in the dirt. |
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Of course he insisted on mostly playing right off the
perimeter on the blanket. |
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Which resulted in a very
dirty butt. |
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| She's awake too! And she's still sticking that tongue out. |
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| Winding road |
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We decided our campsite was the
best site of our loop as we walked. |
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One last family photo before we pack up and head back home.
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Especially for our first camping trip, the two days were fantastic. We are definitely looking forward to future camping trips with our family. Until next trip...
