So this makes camping trip #2 for me as a married woman and mom. I don't know how I got talked into going a second time. This time it was for 2 nights. I am a city girl and my husband is country so camping is not something I grew up doing. We stayed in hotels or people's houses where we slept in real beds. I think I only camped one time before I was married and that was in youth group. I know my husband loves camping and I knew since I married him for forever that sooner or later I would have to give in and go. I drag him shopping so I guess I need to do something he enjoys right? I have to admit it wasn't as bad as I thought. This time we decided to invite our friends along. Jessica and Ray and their boys James and Luke, are friends from church and their kids are around the same age as ours. They are so much fun to be around. Our kids seem to be pretty easy going and sleep great, I was trying to convince our friends that it'll be so much fun and not to worry that the kids will do great. I really wanted them to have a great time. They were concerned about the kids not sleeping. Little did I know that Kaelyn would be the one keeping people up, except Jaxon, and would be up most of the night. I guess Kaelyn and I have that in common that camping is not our favorite thing. Our friends and their kiddos did great. They had a great experience and I'm so glad they had fun. Its so much more fun to drag friends along on your crazy adventures. I'm getting more convinced that camping is the way to go when you want to travel or get a away for a short vacation. Our kids love to be outside and they had plenty of room to run around. So much better than a hotel, especially at this age.
When we camped before, Jaxon loved it, so when we told him when we going again he was excited to go. We left after Brian got home from work and I had everything pretty much packed up. I had made numerous lists throughout the week to make sure I didn't forget anything. We had the truck packed and the cargo box on top packed too. In the back of the truck we had food packed in our big cooler and a big rubbermaid filled with stuff just in case it decided to rain. I had packed our dinner to eat on the way. It looked like we had packed to stay a week.
It was about a 2 hour ride there. I always hate traveling after Brian gets home because we usually get to our destination late and past bedtime. The kids did pretty good in the car.
We got to New River State Park pretty much at dark. Thankfully our friends were already there and were kind enough to help us set up camp. We had a great camp site at the other end of the park. The bathhouses were actually pretty nice and it was a little walk to it from our camp site. We had to load our stuff in wheel barrows to take from our car to our camp site, which was great because we were away from the cars and the kids could run around. I nursed Kaelyn soon after we got there and laid her down. She didn't sleep for very long before she started crying. I think she was just overly tired and wanted to be in her own bed. Jaxon and his buddy James were up way past their bedtime but they had fun with their glow sticks.
When it was finally bed time we joined Kaelyn in the tent. Thankfully we have a tent big enough to fit the pack and play. Jaxon had fun sleeping with all of us in there. I was so worried he would wake up Kaelyn. At some point in the night not too long after we all got in bed, Kaelyn cried and cried and cried just about every hour. Thankfully Jaxon slept through it all. I was at a loss of what to do. I held her and nursed her. As soon as I put her down in her pack and play she cried some more. I was ready to go to sleep. She's always been a great sleeper but I think with the weather being a little chilly outside, in a different environment and not sleeping in her crib, she had a hard time. When we woke up the next morning I think I barely got any sleep. I guess this was pay back and a chance to sympathize with friends, since Kaleyn has been sleeping through the night since she was a month old. Jaxon ended up sleeping at his daddy's feet.
Look who is happy and awake...
We cooked eggs and bacon over the fire. We also had grits and bagels. It was a yummy breakfast.
The boys loved riding the wheel barrow together.
We took a morning hike and we all decided to wear the kids. Just easier that way. Kaelyn got a good nap along the way. This was the first time I tried her on my back. It made me a little nervous but Jessica walked behind me.
The beautiful view of the river was nearby too.
I wanted to get to bed early that night. I had a horrible headache from no sleep the night before. So we all got ready for bed and I nursed Kaelyn and put her down. It didn't take Jaxon long to fall asleep. But Kaelyn started to cry and then I joined her. I think we both just wanted to go home. I had the worse headache and Brian hated to see me in so much pain and he was probably wishing we had followed our friends home. Thankfully Kaelyn finally settled down and we all got some rest.
We had grits, eggs, bacon, and bagels Sunday morning for breakfast.
Thankfully Kaelyn took a good nap Sunday morning while we were eating breakfast and packing up.
Packing up and heading out
Love spending time with our friends.
They were pretty pooped on the way home.
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