Camping

I don't know if you've noticed or pay attention to the Twitter feed in the sidebar. In two more updates, the camping post will disappear, but it's still there for now. Four days ago, on Friday, we had planned on taking LB on his first overnight sleep-in-a-tent camping trip (car camping). Well, it being a holiday weekend we realized that by the time we were going to arrive at the campground (about 2 hrs 45 min from here), we may not get a spot as it's first come, first served. There are several campgrounds near us, but they all require 2 days advance reservation and 2 night minimum on weekends (3 on holidays). So we didn't plan far enough ahead.

BUT we couldn't just give up! So we "camped" in the living room.
It's hard to see his face in any of the pictures I took of him in the tent, but he LOVED it. He was beside himself this was all so exciting!

We had hamburgers for dinner, and then HAD to have a fire, because, after all, we ARE camping.

Is that the saddest little campfire you've ever seen. It's a very sad little campfire. The briquettes (because we didn't have little pieces of brush etc.) were a little wet, and the wood wouldn't catch. Oh well, it was fun to sit on the patio in the dusk. And LB loved staying up late.

So after we gave up on the fire it was time for bed. We spread blankets in the tent for padding and imported some pillows from upstairs. It's just a little two-man tent (great for backpacking because it's so light), but with three of us (incl. one who wiggles and squirms A LOT) it was really warm inside. DH gave up shortly (I think his excuse was that the cats needed to be fed). After a while LB started to calm down and I was able to slip out. About twenty minutes we checked on him and he was sound asleep.

So LB spent his first night in a tent all by himself! Such a big boy! And we got to sleep in our comfy bed (with my comfy pillow, mmm) - it was a win for all of us! lol.

The next morning Lb woke up raring to go. So we went on our hike (because what's camping without hiking?)
Isn't he cute in his hat, camo shorts, and boots? All ready to go!

Group shot. LB doesn't understand to look at the camera unless there's someone holding it. (Silly cats are the same way. Impossible to get good family portraits at home!) We were only out for about 45 minutes, but I wore my boots (because I like them, that's why) and we had our water. And even though it was rather warm and sticky, we were in long pants because of ticks.
About halfway through, naptime hit.
That's when we turned around and headed back to the car.

Look at that little head! That can't be comfy! DH says they're all rubber at that age, but still! So we went home. It wasn't quite the camping trip we thought it was going to be, but it was a good first time, so when we try to go to a real campground, LB will be a little familiar with the tent etc.

So one of the things that we hadn't spent enough time figuring out was cooking food while camping. We have a backpacking stove, but during the Whitney trip (last summer) it wasn't working quite right. PLUS we don't have any fuel. It's all in California. Well, I was browsing the free listings on Craigslist and came across someone trying to get rid of a gallon of white gas! For free! A gallon! DH is supposed to pick it up this afternoon. Isn't it amazing how things work out like that? I mean, it's free! We've been able to sell off a few things (through Craigslist mostly), so we'll use some of that money to pick up a Colman camping stove.