Camping...FINALLY!

We finally got out camping this year! It was a great/interesting/sucky trip. Great because we had fun and we were in the mountains. Interesting because we had a congested infant to care for. Sucky because 1) A group parked a couple hundred yards away and ran a generator constantly...you have a whole mountain, why park near use?! 2) Our engine threw a rod on the way home so we are having a rebuilt engine delivered today and hopefully installed by the weekend. We need to get enough miles on the truck so we can tow the trailer Labor Day Weekend. For a family who puts at most a few thousand miles on their cars a year this will not be easy. Maybe Jameson and I can take a long day trip somewhere.
Anyway back to the weekend. We purchased a full size trailer because we knew it would be much easier with a baby. If we used our pop-up where would he be while we were setting up? Sitting in his hot car seat? What about when he learned to walk and we had hot coals in the fire pit? It just made sense. When we pulled up he was hungry and screaming so it was wonderful to unbuckle him and take him straight into the trailer to eat while John unhooked and put the jacks down.
John immediately built us a fire so we could roast our Jalapeno Brats that we eat every camping trip. Jameson loves being outside but it was rough watching him constantly to ensure the mosquitoes didn't get to him. The boys had fun playing on the little 4-wheeler my mom snagged at the DI until it died Saturday morning.
Jameson slept terribly. He woke up Thursday night so congested. During the day he did alright, but at night he was miserable. Saturday we ran into town to buy some saline to help clear him out. There is nothing sadder than a sick baby. During the days he was extra tired since he didn't sleep much at night. I would stay up with him then when the sun began to rise I'd pass him off to John so I could snag an hour or two of sleep. It was rough but I still am so thankful to have him here that in a way I don't mind.
Friday morning after breakfast John and Jameson fell asleep on the bed so I took the boys on a walk to a nearby creek. It was ice cold. So cold that after a few seconds my feet hurt and I'd jump around trying to warm them up. Well, somehow it came up that I'd pay the boys a dollar if they went in up to their shoulders. Carson, being the money hungry kid that he is went first and he came out freezing! Landon asked what I'd pay him if he went in over his head. I told him two dollars, so away he went. Problem is, he went too slowly. He went to his shoulders for a few seconds then went under and held his breath for several seconds. When he came out and made it to shore he burst in to tears because he was so cold! I laughed while hugging and rubbing him down.
Thinking back I told John it was a bad mommy moment. I should never have dared my boys to go in such cold water. BUT, this is why I love having boys. They are just so fun and so daring. It's especially fun now that they're getting older and I can do things like this with them.
We also went for a drive to explore the mountain and look for future camp spots. The wild flowers were in full bloom so of course I had to get a picture of the boys in the middle of them all. We had an afternoon storm move in every afternoon which cooled things off and really made for a comfortable evening.
Saturday we had some friends come up with their three boys. We had planned to head up to the lake but with Jameson so congested we opted to stay behind. So they took off but came back in the afternoon for steaks, rolls, broccoli and ice cream. Why ice cream? I had it leftover from our birthday celebration and figured, why not?
Sunday we packed up to head home and the rest is history.
It wasn't the relaxing trip we're used to. A baby sure changes all that, but it was worth it. I'm just thankful for the soft bed and heater. Tent camping would not have gone well.