And then we totally chickened out
That camping trip I mentioned? The one where we head off into the wilderness with a near three year old and an eight month old and enjoy all that is green drought-stricken and glorious insanely hot? Yeah, we’re not going. Mostly because we’re wusses…or as I like to call it Playing It Safe.
First, you should know that Joey and I love camping. We grew up doing it and have gone numerous times together, including a 3 night stint in the Black Hills with no running water or electricity. But our overnight outdoor excursions stopped when I first became pregnant (almost 4 years ago), and we’ve been looking forward to family camping trips since then.
A week ago, we filled our garage with all of our camping gear and started organizing and planning and preparing. I even held off weaning Crosby just to make this trip more convenient (no bottles, formula or sterilized water to pack).
We started preparing Addy months ago…
…taking her to sporting goods stores so she could explore tents…
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…bringing her to visit Papa and Grandma while they camped…
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…letting her check out Grandma and Grandpa’s tent pitched in the yard at the cabin (since we took over the house).
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And while she seemed to love it in the moment, every time we ask her if she wants to sleep in a tent, she screams “NOOOOOOOO!” Or if we even mention camping, she chimes in with, “I’m not going!” I mean the kid won’t even eat a s’more.
Combine that with the images that keep flashing in my twisted, mommy-anxiety-ridden mind of a curious Crosby crawling too close to the fire pit and spending all 4 days feasting on dirt and grass that you know people or at least animals have peed on. It’s all too much for me. Too many chances for things going horrifically wrong or just being plain miserable. So we’re going to wait one more year. Addy will be almost 4, Crosby almost 2, and we feel like that difference in age is just enough to increase our chances for success.
So, instead of bunking together in a tent, cooking over a fire and hanging at the beach, we will be doing uber fun things like repacking all the camping crap so we can park in our garage again. I have to admit that I’m a little disappointed in us. But I do think it’s the right choice. Even though a camping trip with 2 little ones would have made for some great blog posts. Hope you have a more daring, adventurous weekend than us!
How about pitching the tent in the backyard? That might be a good trial run for Addy… Stay cool! The awful hot stuff is on it’s way again.
Fantastic idea, Kelly, and the one Get-Her-Ready tactic we didn’t employ. We’ll definitely do it next year! A great tip from a seasoned camper!
I love your posts, Liz. I admire you guys for even considering taking your kids camping…and for what it’s worth, I think you made the right choice to wait one more year. We’re taking our first family vacation with Calvin next week to the mountains in West Virginia but on my city-girl terms: rented log cabin, running water, hot tub, WiFi and cable 🙂
That sounds like an awesome trip. I am so impressed that you guys are taking a trip already. I think Addy was 6 weeks old before I felt brave enough to take her to a grocery store. 🙂 Have a great time and put pictures on Facebook!
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