Dad planned ahead and purchased a pop-up camper for Maddy and Cassidy to be able to use, but unfortunately a cable snapped just a day before we were supposed to leave. That, and the fact that it was POURING rain for four days leading up to the trip made me think that this year's camping extravaganza would have to be postponed. And, I'll admit it -- that thought didn't bother me too terribly much. The idea of taking an 8 month old tent camping was pretty daunting.
But, Friday dawned beautifully and it wasn't long before the temperature reached a nice mid-70's. The ground seemed fairly dry despite the rains the days before. And, I'll admit it -- even though the idea of taking an 8 month old tent camping was daunting, the adventure of it was rather enticing. So, I left work around noon, came home, packed us all up, and off we went.
We camp at North River camp ground, in the GW National Forest, about 2.5 hours from our home in NoVA. Mom, Dad, and Cary had staked out an awesome site, which mom later informed me was the exact site she and dad had camped at on their first anniversary. The site was large, room for at least 5 or 6 tents, and was flanked by a small babbling brook on one side. Good thing, too, since I'm typically flanked by a babbling baby on one side.
So the days were nice and toasty warm, the nights were cold but not freezing. See, that was my biggest concern for the weekend. How do I keep my baby girl from getting too cold at night? I know she can't regulate her own body temperature at this age, and to add more obstacles she's a thumb sucker who needs at least one hand free to pacify herself. The first night was . . . ok. I brought this marshmallow suit (a big, puffy, white snow suit) to have her sleep in and it worked, but she had a fitfull sleep all night. She kept waking up sporadically to just let out this little cry like she was annoyed, but never actually woke up. Think of it like someone talking in their sleep while having a bad dream or something like that. Anyway, so I thought she was just cold, of course, because I was crazy paranoid about that all weekend -- so I brought her into bed with me and Eric, and held her in my arms all night. I've never done that before, and didn't bank on the fact that I would then get overly paranoid about her suffocating on the sleeping bag. Needless to say, i didn't get much sleep that night since I was constantly checking to make sure Cassy was still breathing.
On Saturday we all drove into town to watch my brother's baseball games (he's a catcher for EMU). They won. On our way back to the campsite, we detoured to Target where I purchased a long underwear onesie and a sleep sack for Cassidy. See, I figure maybe Cassidy wasn't actually cold on Friday night -- maybe she was just annoyed at the fact that the marshmallow suit rendered her immobile. These things -- the onesie and the sleep sack -- would give added warmth AND the ability to move around more freely. Note: If you're going to be a parent, you've gotta be ready with plans A, B, C, D, E . . . etc. Sure enough, Saturday night Cassidy slept like . . . well, a baby! all night long. Seriously. From 7p until 8a, she just lightly snored all night long. I had her dressed in a onesie, under the long underwear onesie, with socks, under her flannel footie pajamas, under a fuzzy pink hooded jacket, under the sleep sack. Worked like a charm. Five charms, to be exact.
All weekend we were treated to my dad's cooking creations -- Friday night was southwestern eggrolls and chicken quesadillas, Saturday was grilled chicken and ribs, Sunday morning breakfast was bacon, eggs, and bagels. I'm still not used to that -- Eric and I used to only ever bring hotdogs for dinners, and stuff to make PBJ sandwiches during the day. So yeah, I feel like this is first-class camping :-)
Mike T. and Michelle K. were able to join us this year, which helped round out the group and added a very fun dynamic. I will never know how Mike found us, since it was already dark and all I had told him was that we were at North River campground. There are lots of winding roads throughout the campground, but luckily he found our specific campsite. Genius! So we played some games Friday night, and Saturday we just hung out chillin by the campfire. The stars were incredible, and the time was very relaxing overall.
Some pics from the weekend:
Enjoying the Marshmallow suit -- for the moment!
The ladies
Family camping picture!
Around the campfire
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