Friday, June 23, 2006

Vacation: Part 2--Camping, or I Hate Paul Douglas

Saturday morning we went for a really nice canoe ride. The water on the bay was very calm, so we paddled out to the point and back. The highlight of this little adventure for Back Seat Girl was seeing a puppy swimming in the water. He was retrieving tennis balls off a dock. It blew her mind.

When we got back to the condo, Mam and Pap were there. So, Driver and I headed out to the camp ground to set up camp without Back Seat Girl, who stayed behind with Mam and Pap to eat lunch and take a nap. Driver and I set up camp, ate some lunch, and took a walk around. Just as we were leaving to go back and retrieve Back Seat Girl, it started to rain. We weren’t too upset, because SCATTERED showers were predicted. We can handle SCATTERED showers, we thought. Well, the SCATTERED shower lasted well into the night. We were pissed, to say the least. We wouldn’t have bothered reserving a site for Saturday had we known it was supposed to rain all freakin’ day. But the forecast said SCATTERED, so we figured we’d be OK. We hung out at the condo all day, trying to keep Back Seat Girl occupied, until after supper. Then Driver and I decided to head back to the camp site and tough it out there while Back Seat Girl stayed behind to sleep in the nice, dry condo. We were heartily disappointed because this was supposed to be our first REAL family vacation with all 3 (and a half) of us, but we decided she’d sleep better at Mam and Pap’s, and we’d have more fun with a well-rested toddler the next day. So, Driver and I had a nice time roasting hot dogs and marshmallows over the fire and trying out our new (huge) tent, which actually stayed dry during the monsoon.

The next morning Mam called us when Back Seat Girl woke up so I went and got her while Driver fixed us some breakfast. First on the agenda was a Burley ride to the park/swim area. That was all good…there was even a dam there where people were fishing, and that was good fun to watch. Some guy had caught a 38 inch northern. We went back to the site, made lunch, and put Back Seat Girl down for her first nap in a tent. She went down with no problems…just talked for a while before falling asleep. An hour later she woke up crying. When I went to get here she was fluorescent pink and her hair was wet from sweating. It WAS pretty warm in the tent, but man… you would’ve thought it was about 150 degrees. I opened up more windows and stripped her down to her diaper, and she was perfectly happy to lay down again. That was the end of the nap, though. She just talked happily to herself for a while after that.

Next adventure: hiking with the baby backpack. We rented one from REI, so Driver got to be the family camel and hike around with Back Seat Girl on his back. She enjoyed it, and even got to see some deer while I was taking a pee break at the nature center. I came out and Driver said “What did we see while mommy was in the bathroom?” to which came a very hearty reply of “DEERS!”. For the whole rest of the hike, no matter where we were or what we were looking at she kept saying “I see it, deers!”. Driver and I never saw another deer. Maybe we just weren’t looking hard enough.

Back to the site for some supper. Back Seat Girl had a great time running around the site, “helping” her daddy make a fire, and digging in the sand around the tent. We took a little walk around the camp ground with the stroller, and then it was time for what we were most nervous about…bedtime. It all went very smoothly, though, and Driver and I were once again allowed to enjoy a little campfire before bed. Back Seat Girl slept through everything, including us coming into the tent to change our clothes and go to bed. She woke up for a bit between 3 and 4 and talked for a while, and then, amazingly, slept until 8 AM!! We were pleased, to say the least.
I'll leave you with a nice image of Back Seat Girl enjoying some breakfast on Monday morning. Posted by Picasa

No comments: