Between deployments, pregnancies, newborns, and moves (not to mention the shifting seasons) it's been a while since we last loaded up and headed camping.
Before I launch into the details of our trip, it's necessary to first introduce this picture.
I let them pack their own bags. They thought it was my grandest idea ever.
Maria is currently in a monochromatic CareBear dressing phase. She tries her hardest to convince Camille that monochromatic dressing is the quickest way to Care-a-Lot. Camille has a mind of her own when it comes to clothes and accessories.
Basically, I'm asking to not be held accountable for their attire. However cute it may or may not be. ;)
We picked Newport News Park as our test-site for the weekend. It's all of 10 minutes from our house. We figured if we needed to bail, we could.
And we did. Yep, at 1a.m. After 4 hours of crying and entertaining Lila, she and I headed home to our cozy beds, while Dada stayed with the slumbering big girls. I'm not sure why it took me 4 hours to cave. I'm clearly losing my sense of good judgement. She crashed as soon as I showed her her bed. We made an early morning return around 0630 to campfire coffee and bagels toasting. I digress.
Otherwise NNPark was perfect for us at this stage in the game. It was camping made easy :: a giant playground, swings (for our big girl who learned to swing by herself just this week!), running water at each site, tons of easy hiking, bbq pit for cooking, and easy access to the lake.
When we first pulled up, the first words out of Camille's mouth were, "Where are all the people?" When I suggested that we head to the playground, she asked, "Is that where all the people are?" She is our little socialite!
Eventually, she adjusted to being stuck with just us in the woods, and we made the fun discovery that Camille is quite the little gamer. Her main focus for our 24 hour stay was to play as many games as possible of 'Go Fish.' I'm so happy to have a fellow card player in the family.
While Camilly took a bit of adjusting to camp life, Maria was completely in her element. Aside from running around free at Nana and Pa's, it's probably the happiest she gets. That girl loves to be outside - exploring, dreaming, fishing. That was her main focus - fishing. Not actually catching fish, mind you, but standing at water's edge casting and reeling back in. She was equally excited to find seaweed as she was to find a fish attached to her hook!
(her sad face because she really really wanted the pig card)
At night it was firefly catching, pizza sandwiches, s'mores, a failed attempt at fireside popcorn, and a bit of star-gazing.
***
The next morning was more of the same goodness - Go Fish, go fishing (she caught her first fish!), pack up, go fishing, play more Go Fish. Lila was a trooper to hang out through it all (minus that whole 4 hours of crying in the middle of the night). She napped on me in the mei tai, hung out in the pack-n-play, ate wood chips at the playground, or played with her big sisters in the tent.
And despite Maria's face below, they were super sweet playing Go Fish together. If Ree knew she had a card that Camille needed, she would regularly tell Camille which card to ask her for.
No comments:
Post a Comment