first camping trip.

What a weekend!  We decided to go camping about a week ago.  You'd-a-thunk we'd have started to prepare for this maiden voyage with Clara early!  Well, I can say I went to the grocery store on Thursday, and that's about all we did in advance to get ready for the trip!  We're such slackers! 

 

Friday afternoon rolled around, and I started to get things packed.  Of course, it is a busy time of year for Kurtis, so he didn't get off work till around 6:00.  He rushed home and started throwing things together with me.  Just when we'd get on a roll, I'd have to stop and feed Clara, or we'd get distracted looking for camp cookers in our garage for 30 minutes on and off!  To make a long story short... we didn't jet out of town till around 8:30.  Not a great start!

We drove the 65ish miles to Sage Hen Reservoir, which took about 2 hours.  By the time we got there, half of Boise was already camping there!  Wow!  We drove through the dark campgrounds searching for a spot!  At one point, I honestly thought we were going to have to sleep in the truck with our four month babe and drive home Saturday morning!  But... at 11:30, we pulled into the LAST campsite out of the 5 campgrounds around Sage Hen!  Thank goodness!

Before we left, my parents shared the story of their first camping trip with me.  At some point in the night, my dad exclaimed, "This is a (insert choice word here) fiasco!"  This is exactly how Kurtis and I felt, setting up the tent trailer at 11:30 at night in the dark with our truck engine running and headlights shining on our site!  Our neighbors surprisingly didn't kill us on the spot!  When we've gone camping in the past, there always seems like there is one jerk who pulls in super late and keeps everyone in the campground awake with their loud truck and noisy camp set up!  I guess we're that jerk now!  Having a child is teaching me that circumstances happen in life and I shouldn't judge others so quickly. 

Anyway, the trip started out as a complete fiasco.  But by midnight, we were in our big double sleeping bag with Clara swaddled in between us and all of us were content! 

Clara ended up sleeping from midnight till around 8:00 am.  I slept better than I have in years while camping (I think it is due to sleeping up off the ground in the tent trailer - thanks Jeff and Janet for letting us borrow it!). 

Saturday was awesome!  Clara woke up, ate, and went back to sleep till around 10:00 am.  Kurtis and I enjoyed coffee and oatmeal around the campfire under the peaceful pines!  Jeff and Janet drove up for the day to hang out with us and were able to stay through lunch and dinner.  We sat by the water, tried to take a little nap (Clara was absolutely a nutcase during nap time and was cracking Kurtis and I up with her silly antics).  Jeff and Janet headed home, and we sat around the campfire.  Clara was mesmerized by the fire.  She was so happy to be in the woods. 

Because the first night went so well when it came to sleeping, I was certain night #2 couldn't go well.  But Clara surprised us and slept from 11 pm till 7:45 am.  What a good camper she is!  We woke up Sunday, ate some breakfast and packed up camp while Clara slept.  We headed out of camp at 10:40 am - which is a lot earlier than we usually get out of the mountains.  We drove home, unpacked, washed ourselves and our camping laundry, and were able to relax for the rest of our Sunday!

We picked up Mac (who stayed with Jeff and Janet while we camped) and headed to my parents' house to eat some dinner and meet up with Gwen who stayed there for the weekend! 

Kurtis and I were so happy with how the weekend went!  The start was rocky, but the rest of it was such a treat!  We're planning a few more trips this summer and now have confidence in Clara's ability to be a good camper!  Here are a few pics from the weekend!

 Love Clara's face here!

 Crazy baby smile!

Here is Mac at my parents' house jumping in the pool.  The dog swims laps.  You've never met a dog who loves the water so much.  We have to force him to stay out of the pool.

Here are our dogs doing their synchronized swimming routine!  Or not!  They both jumped in after a ball, Gwen got it and was then stalked by Mac until he could steal it from her!  We have some crazy puppies!  To bad I didn't get Gwen doing what she does best - jumping off the diving board after balls!

I have a cute video of our camp and Clara sleeping in the trailer but it is a little too large to load to my blog!  Sorry!

In the future, we'll be looking for a tent trailer of our own!  Those things seriously rock!  Thanks again Jeff and Janet for letting us use yours!  It was so nice to have for the weekend!