Camping!

A couple of months ago, I got the itch and decided to start planning our annual Memorial Day camping trip, which gets cancelled about half the time due to bad weather. I was excited when my sister-in-law and brother agreed to come along, even though she’s only a few weeks away from her due date.

So we booked a campsite and invited some people, and as people do, many couldn’t decide and/or changed their RSVPs at the last minute. My parents were a big “maybe” for one night, since my dad had spent the month in Africa and wasn’t due home until almost midnight on Saturday. And last I heard before we left town, his first flight was delayed and possibly going to throw his whole schedule.

Anyway, 6 of us (plus Felix) headed up on Saturday. The weather was decent and we had fun setting up our tents, gathering firewood and going for little hikes. I set up Felix’s mini Pack N Play and he was mostly happy to stay in there as needed. He could stand up and cruise around the edge to see the whole campsite, and didn’t mind eating snacks and looking at books either. We had hobo stews (Felix’s first) and just enjoyed a really nice night around the campfire.

End of a long camping weekend? Nope, we'd been at the site for about 20 minutes when I took this!

Big boy chair, table, bowl and his first hobo stew.

Felix and I have never coslept, nor has he slept on a mattress or with blankets, so the first night was a little rough. He woke up crying around 3, then again at 5, but we cobbled together enough sleep to survive Sunday. My favorite part of camping is the early mornings around a damp campfire. Getting the fire going, boiling water for my instant Starbucks, cooking cinnamon rolls on sticks, waiting for the sun to peek over the mountain and send everyone running to change into shorts.

Early morning hike for firewood.

It started to rain Sunday afternoon, so we packed up our chairs and food and retreated to our tents for a nap. Felix and I slept hard, and I had a sneaking suspicion the sun had come out, but was so tired, I didn’t lift the blanket off my face. Then around 2:30, my brother woke me up, “Mom and dad just pulled in!” I could hardly believe that after all that traveling (including a 17-hour flight from Johannesburg to London), my dad was up to pack the camper and come join us. 

 

Wearing grandpa's hat.

The skies were clear and sunny by then, and my mom insisted on changing campsites from what they had reserved. We didn’t think much about it because she always wants to change campsites, but it all made sense when my other brother, sister-in-law, niece and nephew pulled up a few minutes later! We went from a chill group of 6 to a noisy clan of 13 spanning two campsites in less than an hour. Then the rain started again, and we all piled into my parents’ pop-up camper for drinks and games.

Come on in!

Dinner on night two. Jayda's on crumb watch, as usual.

The boys.

It sprinkled off and on that night, but Monday was clear. Felix and I got home around 1:30 in the afternoon, totally exhausted and filthy from head to toe. I can’t wait to do it again!