Ultimate Car Camping

In keeping with tradition of taking our boys camping when they are young (it's a tradition if you do it twice...right?) we took Shep camping with us when he was 2 months old. We did things a little differently though....instead of camping in our little tent and having Shep sleep in his bassinet, like Foster did when he was little, we bought a new tent big enough for Ryan to stand in and a cot where Shep can sleep. If we're going to sell out and start car camping, we're doing it in style.

Shep's introduction to camping was during a burn ban due to so many forest fires, so no smelling like a campfire for him...he'll have to catch up on that rite of passage some other time. We also had our friends the Kuders in the campsite next door which made for some fun times for Foster with their three kids.

We arrived around 3pm and set up camp and then played in the area with Jenna, Matthew and Will on their bikes and scooters. Before dinner, we packed up and hiked out to a swimming hole up the trail. Everyone went in except Shep and me. Ryan even jumped from the cliffs, our lone representative in the crowd of teenagers.

After swimming and walking back to camp, we got ready for dinner. We had our usual staples of sausages and breast milk and then set up to roast some s'mores over our illegal charcoal grill. When darkness set in, Ryan set to getting Foster to bed while I fed Shep and started to get him ready. Unfortunately Shep launched into one of his witching hour screamfests and I had to walk down to the river to get him to calm down (and to drown out his cries and not bother our neighbors). Luckily he only lasted about an hour and then was ready to hit the sack. He was bundled up in fleece PJs and a warm sleep sack and Foster slept between me and Ryan in his sleep sack. Foster woke up cold in the middle of the night and crawled into my sleeping bag while Ryan pulled out a spare one we had brought along. I think we need to look into getting him one of his own soon.

It was a chilly night but both boys slept well once we had Foster taken care of. We woke up around 7 in the morning to the sun creeping up over the mountains into our campsite. We had coffee and breakfast and slowly took down camp while playing with the Kuders and throwing rocks and sticks into the river.

I look forward to when we can take the boys backpacking and camp in the 'real' wilderness, but for now it's really really nice to be able to haul a freezer chest, giant tent, and camping stove without having to actually haul it.