Well, except for the cold nights! While I found myself nice and toasty warm inside my sleeping bag, I also found myself constantly worried about my baby girl in her Pack N Play on the other side of the tent. But all in all, it was a great trip!

The weather was absolutely perfect camping weather. Sunny, light breeze, highs around 75 degrees. Perfect. Lydia had so much fun being outside and getting attention from her cousins. I knew she'd love it.

Friday night Lydia decided that bedtime was really just naptime and woke up crying shortly after going down. She didn't want to miss the campfire!


She slept okay that night (once finally back in bed), so I guess she stayed warm enough. But when she did get up in the morning, her little hands were just FREEZING! I wish I could have covered them up, but since she sucks her thumb I know she'd rather have cold hands than not have them at all.


Saturday was all about relaxing and enjoying the outdoors. We sat around the fire in the morning until it warmed up, had our typical breakfast of eggs & bacon, and spent the afternoon napping, playing, chatting, and snacking. Exactly the way a camping trip is supposed to be! Naps were a little difficult for Lydia though. By mid-afternoon the inside of the tent was SO hot. Even in just a onesie she was sweating like crazy. I realized that a tent nap was not going to happen, but my tired baby really needed to rest. So... out came the Pack N Play. By the time I got it out and set up, Lydia had caught a second wind and it took her another hour before she finally fell asleep. There was just far too much stuff to look at outside!


Just as a random side note, there was a large group of Amish people camping a couple sites down from us. Made for interesting people-watching opportunities!

Saturday night we had an interesting experience around the campfire. Lydia was already in bed and my sister-in-law Erin was heading to the bathroom with her 3 girls to get them ready to go to sleep when she saw a raccoon! Right by our picnic tables! Trying not to alarm the girls, they moved on to the bathroom. Meanwhile, myself, my dad, my mom, Brent, and my brother all tried to figure out what we were going to do with this cute-but-don't-want-it-around-camp pest. The men tried to scare it away but it would just run back up the tree then eventually creep back down. It found the Trix under the table that had spilled that morning and didn't seem too bothered by our presence as it chowed down.



After a few attempts, we thought it was gone. They'd scared it off and we watched it run across the other campsites (right towards the Amish!). Back to enjoying the campfire we went. Later Brent is melting the extra marshmallow goo off of the roasting forks... he pulls them out and they are red hot. Someone cracks a joke about him getting the raccoon with the red hot pokers... we laugh... Brent turns around... and there is the stinkin raccoon on top of our picnic table! At this point Brent grabs a log from our firewood pile and proceeds to whack the raccoon. It runs off, ducks into a drain pipe, and Dad & Brent blocked the pipe with a big log and put stakes around it so it can't move. That was the last we saw of the raccoon.

(For all those concerned about it, I'm sure the 'coon was fine... we fed it before pinning it in a hole and removed the log in the morning... chances are it managed to get out the other side of the pipe and just stayed away from us point forward)

Saturday night was cold yet again, so again I worried that my sweet Lydia would be chilly. She did fine until around 6 or 6:30. At that point I got her out of her PnP and snuggled her in with me in my sleeping bag. I nursed her there while warming her up and she fell asleep all bundled up next to me. I didn't go back to sleep because I was making sure my baby didn't get smothered in the thick sleeping bag... and because I was fully enjoying having my sleeping baby snuggled up next to me. For safety reasons I do not co-sleep with Lydia. Never have. And I don't regret that decision. But that morning I really did love having her bundled up in my arms while she slept. :)

The rest of the trip was pretty typical. Breakfast Sunday morning followed by tearing down the camp & heading to the Pizza Hut buffet for lunch.

I'm so glad Lydia is already getting the chance to go places and have different experiences. We've already been camping twice and spent a week at the beach... and in a couple more weeks we're heading to Gatlinburg! Lydia loves travelling and she does it so well! I have a feeling that she will keep me on the move as she gets older!

2 Responses
  1. Kim Neyer Says:

    I was really thinking that camping with a baby would be impossible and had written it off for the next couple of years. But you've shown me that it can be done! Maybe next year we'll camp again after all!

    The last time I went camping, I was pregnant with Micah, and the time before that I was pregnant, but I didn't know it yet. I would have been like 3 weeks pregnant at the time. So technically Micah's been camping twice, hehe.


  2. Anonymous Says:

    The last time I went camping, I was pregnant with Micah, and the time before that I was pregnant, but I didn't know it yet. I would have been like 3 weeks pregnant at the time.

    angst


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