Camping!

"It was the best of times, it was the worst of times."

I think this Dickensian precis perfectly sums up our first attempt at camping with a toddler. We chose a location not too far away so that we could pack it all in if it didn't go well. The weather was PERFECT. The site was beautiful. We had some interesting neighboring campers which made for fun times people-watching (Exhibit A: Yellow Pages guy... camping in a mini-van stacked with THOUSANDS of Yellow Pages books. No tent. No light. No camp stove. Just his car and the yellow pages... which he packed and unpacked and repacked and unpacked and repacked continuously throughout the weekend... and once he had a "fort" of yellow pages books around his car, he would sleep in the back for the night?!?! Exhibit B: Morse Code guy who set up a COMPLETE telegraph station and was sending and receiving messages with taps and dots and dashes late at night, and first thing in the morning...) There were also regular people with little kiddos, lest you think we camped at the funny farm, but they were less entertaining to watch :-)

Needless to say - Teg had a blast. She helped us set up the tent:


She tried bacon for the first time and loved it:


She practiced drinking out of a water fountain for the first time:


She watched squirrels:


She accompanied Mommy and Daddy on walks around the lovely lake:


And then at night, she woke up in the middle of the night and screamed (if not held) and jumped and pounded on Mommy (if held) for about 2 hours both nights. And Jeremy's allergies were terrible so it really was a Mommy-to-the-rescue weekend. Those few hours were the worst of times.

The rest? With the background of a soft morse message going up into the night, it was the best of times!