As you are reading this we are actually heading out on another little camping trip! This time we reserved a public use cabin on a lake nearby. We've never camped this way...I'll let you know how it goes.
Anyway, lets throw it on back to two weekends ago when we camped at the Russian River Campground! We reserved this spot way back in February since the Russian River is such a hot spot during the summertime. This is due largely in part to it's world renowned salmon fishing -- In fact Kyle has already been several times this year for quick down and back fishing trips.
Last summer, Mallory's first camping trip was when she was about 6 months old. With Mike being just three months old, we thought we would need to make some serious adjustments to our packing list...that wasn't the case at all! Really, the only Mike specific additions we made to our packing list were his clothes and the Ergo. Too easy!
So, after we dropped the dogs off, we took our dear sweet time on the three-ish hour drive from the house to the campground. Driving the Seward Highway along along the Turnagain Arm and Kenai Peninsula is simply breath taking and of course, we stopped to breastfeed and play a time or two...
When we made it to our campsite, the kids and I cheered Kyle on as he got everything all set up. (HA!) I have to admit, I was more than slightly concerned about Mally's ability to stay in our sight and not become bear food, but she did really well! (She comes by her wandering tendencies naturally...I had to page my mom over the store intercom once or twice in my day.)
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| Mal clearly had commitment issues when it came to her hat... |
After we played in the river, the kids and I made our way back to the campsite to allow Kyle some time to fish in peace. By the time he got back to the tent it was time for dinner and Mallory made sure everyone within 15 square miles of the Russian River knew it...
Just kidding! She kept her cool. :) She was plenty entertained by the endless amounts of rocks in her vicinity.
Mike was a huge fan of the fire. Like, he was obsessed! Is there infant therapy for that kind of thing? 'Cuz we may have a pyro on our hands...
I'm kidding. He really just enjoyed being outside and watching his sister run around like a crazy person. Mike was such a happy camper! (See what I did there? Anyone? Anyone..)
When she wasn't throwing or eating rocks, Mallory was pretty busy trying to figure out just what in the hell we were doing. Dinner? Pillows? Jammies? Blankets? This whole camping thing was very curious to her ... Ha! It wasn't until I pulled out her bottle and passed Mike off to Kyle that she started giggling at putting the pieces together. In an effort to maintain some level of bedtime normalcy, Kyle and Mike were going to stay by the fire (much to Mike's pleasure...) while I put Mally to bed. At the very moment Mallory and I laid down in the tent, it started to pour! Aaaand in the tent came Kyle and Mike. Oh it was on like donkey-kong! You know that overtired state of drunken delirium that toddlers enter approximately 3 hours past their bedtime on a generally pretty exciting day? Yeah, Mal was there. THERE. She had me and Kyle cracking up as we took turns peaking out of our sleeping bags to watch her at her thrash around while telling herself seemingly hysterical jokes. Someone pass the popcorn!
Apparently, all she needed was to take a massive shit (especially lovely when you are sharing such close quarters...) and lay directly on top of me (facing up--her back on my tummy...totally weird) to become completely comatose.
In all honesty, we got a really great night's sleep! I mean, as parents, how often do you get to cuddle both of your sleeping babies at the same time?!
Not often enough...
On that note, high five for camping!