Wednesday, October 01, 2008

camping carlsbad



We went camping last weekend. It was a first for both girls. We decided to stay close to home in case it didn't go as planned. Thunder left early on Friday with Bailey to set up camp. He was able to set everything up by himself with Bailey in the backpack. Awesome! Jill, Shea and I ran out to get the last couple of things we needed (like a kickass red wagon) and met up with them later that afternoon. By the time we got there Bailey was covered in dirt. She loved scooping up dirt with her hand and putting it in the pail grandpa gave her. It was quite a sight.


We spent the rest of the afternoon hanging out and taking Bailey for rides in her new wagon. By about 7, Bailey was showered and asleep in her playpen in the tent. Shea was with me in the sling most of the night. We stayed up to hang out with Thunder's dad, Fritz and some of his friends. My family showed up about 9 and joined us. I think we ended up going to bed shortly after 11.


The next day Bailey woke up at her usual time of 6am. She started playing with dirt the minute she got out of the tent. So much for clean clothes. A little while later we went around to say good morning to everyone. She got a kick out of seeing people in their tents. After saying hello, we let them rest some more and went off to make some coffee for us and pancakes for Bailey. My mom made breakfast for everyone else later, veggie scramble and quesadillas...yum!


That day was spent just lazying around. About midday, my mom took Bailey down to the beach. She absolutely loved it. She kept running into the ocean. Thunder would try to hold her hand, and she'd just brush him off. So independent...heh. Some friends showed up with their two little ones right around then and joined them. I stayed behind with Shea who was sleeping in her swing. She slept the WHOLE time we were there. We're thinking maybe she liked the sound of the ocean or something. Mental note...must get ocean sounds for her to sleep with.


I think running around on the beach and playing in the sand wore Bailey out, because she came back and took almost a two hour nap. Awesome! The rest of the day was spent much like the morning. Bailey played in the dirt, we hung out, Shea slept. Can't beat that. Thunder's family joined us sometime that afternoon. My family ended up leaving around 8 that evening, they were driving to Vegas the next morning. We hung out with Thunder's family until about 10 and then crashed out.

Bailey woke up at 4am on Sunday morning. It's odd for her to wake up that early, but when she has, we can usually give her a bottle of water, change her and she goes back to sleep. Well that didn't work this time. She drank some of the bottle but then started crying. We tried bringing her into our bed, that didn't work. We tried giving her a bottle of milk, that didn't work. Finally after almost 2 hours of this, I just grabbed both girls and drove home. I had been awake since 3 when Shea woke up to nurse. Sure enough, Bailey passed out the minute I started driving. She even stayed asleep when I carried her from the car to her crib. She ended up "sleeping in" until 630, giving me just enough time to put Shea down and unload some stuff. I was exhausted by this point.

So the girls and I hung out while Thunder and Jill packed up the campsite. We watched a lot of Sesame Street. They got back around 11 with coffee and breakfast...yum!

So all in all, camping went really well. To be honest, we really didn't expect it to go as well as it did. Bailey loved it and slept great most of the time. Shea was a star and slept through most of it. And everyone ended up coming! For a while there we didn't think anyone was going to come...they all called last minute and decided to make it work. So cool. You can see more pictures from the trip here.

Oh and did I mention that Saturday was our 5 year anniversary. We had a great time celebrating surrounded by the people we love.