Camping

Some of our spring break plans ended up not working out, so we decided to go camping instead! The lovely thing about this trip was that-- unlike most of the times when we go camping-- I wasn't pregnant! (And, um, I'm still not, in case that sounded like it was trying to hint at something.) This made things infinitely more pleasant for me and, consequently, for everyone else as well. We were also lucky enough to have awesome friends, the Scoresbys, who let us borrow pretty much everything you might need for a campout : a sleeping bag for Kendra, an air mattress for me to sleep on (bliss!), a pump and a battery so I could inflate the air mattress, a cook stove, and finally their tent, too, since we weren't sure the air mattress would fit in ours. We were borrowing so much stuff, Craig finally suggested that perhaps we should borrow their linens, dog, and minivan, too. And I suspect if we would have asked, they would have said yes!

Anyway, the best things about this camping trip was the air mattress and the complete and utter lack of any bugs. I'm a big fan of not having to deal with insects.

The bad thing about this campout was that Ryder was fascinated with our campfire and with the dogs both of our neighboring campers had brought. So Ryder-duty was a little bit intense and exhausting. But I managed to keep him from being burned OR bitten the entire time, so I count that as a huge success. (I'll have to try and remind myself of this fact the next time I'm feeling like a rotten mother...!)

The other bad thing was that the low that night was 35 degrees (which I suppose explains why there weren't any bugs)! As I've stated over and over again on this blog, I am a complete wimp when it comes to cold weather. We'd brought every blanket we owned, and I slept with my hood and gloves on, but it was still pretty cold in that tent. And Ryder kept managing to wiggle his hands out of his blankets and then he would begin whimpering in his sleep which both broke my heart and terrified me that perhaps I was freezing my baby. So I didn't really sleep at all. But I don't think I ever have on a campout, so this wasn't much of a shock. And at least this time, while I was busy not sleeping, my hip bone wasn't digging into the hard ground! So the air mattress kept that night from being truly miserable. I really need to buy one for myself...

As soon as the sun came up everything warmed up and all was well. Craig managed to get a fire going AND heat up a bottle for Ryder while I snuggled with the kids inside the tent. Then he made french toast and sausage and hot cocoa for us, which was lovely.

Which brings me to the thing I LOVE about camping: it's the time when I get to be on vacation from any and all cooking duties. I get to sit back and let Craig do it all and I don't even feel guilty about that. He even makes my s'mores for me. Everyone should enjoy such a break!

Anyway, here are a couple pictures we snapped of the occasion:

Ryder digging into his hotdog bun here cracks me up. Normally he won't eat bread, so this was a huge step for him!

Good old fashioned father-son bonding time

Happy Ryder!

You know how some people look good even when they're camping?
Yeah, I'm not one of those people.
And I don't care a bit!

Back home and enjoying the warm weather