We were so excited for our camping adventure last weekend. We knew it was going to be a ton of work, but we were in the mindset to make it work. We prepped and planned all week, and had the truck packed to the brink Friday afternoon. The only item that didn’t make the trip was Nolan’s potty chair – we ran out of room!
We made a few stops on the way to the campground. Nolan had been asking for a haircut for the past few weeks, so our first stop was at Kids Hair. It was Kale’s first haircut – and he did so well! He kept smiling at himself in the mirror and sat as still as I’ve ever seen him sit. I’m not going to lie – I was really sad to see his little blonde curls cut off, and almost shed a tear. He looks like a little man now!
Nolan also did really well, but he was purely motivated by what happens at the end of a haircut. Yep, as soon as we pulled in to the parking lot and he knew he was getting a haircut he announced he was excited to get a sucker. There has only been one other haircut he has gotten a sucker, but he hasn’t forgotten it!
After the haircuts we made our way to Stride Rite to get shoes for both of the boys. Nolan is a size 7 and Kale a size 5 – and we have a feeling Kale is going to keep creeping up size with Nolan. Our last stop was to meet Greg and Ellen at Ruby Tuesday’s for dinner. It sounded good at the time, but turned in to quite a disaster. The boys had been so good for their haircuts and shoe shopping that they were both burnt out and crabby – which made me and Adam a little crabby! We barely survived and left as quickly as I could finish my food. All Greg and Ellen could do is chuckle at the chaos they just observed! Once we got in the car they calmed down, thankfully.
We arrived at our destination after a quick 45 minute drive. As we drove in to the campground Nolan announced he was “exshited to go comping” – things were looking good! Adam got the campsite set up as I walked around with the boys in the double stroller. Kale went to bed really well, and Nolan got to stay up late to watch the movie Mega Minds on a big screen attached to the Robinson’s camper. Yes, you read that correctly. Nate brought his projector from home and set up a large screen on the side of the camper – camping has certainly gotten more high tech than I remember! Nolan stayed up for about half the movie and fell asleep as soon as I put him on his air mattress in the tent. I didn’t stay up too late, as I knew the kids would be up early. Plus, my allergies had started acting up so I didn’t feel the greatest. I slept restlessly and heard the storm rolling in. Adam was jittery and nervous, primarily because I had turned my phone off to preserve the battery and he couldn’t find it to turn it on to check the weather. Our tent held up for about 45 minutes of the storm – and then the rain started dripping on the quilt, and then on my face. There is nothing better than big, cold raindrops falling on your face in the middle of the night. That brings us to 3:48 a.m. – Adam and I huddled under our wet quilt, turning my phone on to check the weather.
Adam and I didn’t hear the boys right away Saturday morning – we had barely slept the entire night. We woke up to Nolan and Kale playing peek a boo and laughing, which was a pretty good way to wake up. A quick assessment of the tent showed a big puddle of water under the pack n play and wet blankets and air mattresses – nothing that couldn’t be dried out if the sun came out. We got up and made breakfast, and then I headed out for a walk with the boys again so Adam could take everything out of the tent and hang it out to dry.
We looked like a bunch of hobos! By this time everyone else was awake, so we set off on a walk to see the waterfalls. We seriously walked down and up the steepest hill I have ever seen. I pushed (or should I say pulled) the stroller down about half way, but realized my sandals weren’t going to hold me up very well so Adam took over. The falls were awesome – reminded me of the North Shore. I pushed the stroller up the hill about half way, but again had to have Adam take over. After we got back to our camp site we had to let the boys run around, even though it was super muddy outside. Kale is doing really well walking, but it’s a bit more difficult for him on uneven ground. He was filthy, to the point that both he and Nolan showered with Adam before nap. As Adam was doing that, I got everything put back together and back in the tent for naps. Nap time did not go well – we tried for an hour and a half to put the boys to bed, and nothing would work. Adam and I were exhausted and really needed to nap, but that wasn’t going to happen. We were super frustrated at this point, and a little crabby. Everyone else was at the beach, so we decided to join them. We were there for about a ½ hour when someone pointed out a huge storm that was coming across the lake. You could see the sheet of rain coming for us – it seemed like it came out of nowhere! We quickly packed up everything and I literally grabbed Kale and started running for the truck. For those of you who know me, I’m not much of a runner so I’m sure it looked pretty awesome. Adam was running with Nolan. We barely got the kids in the car and it started pouring. We drove the 2 miles back to our campsite, knowing full well that all of the tent windows were open and we still had stuff drying outside. I jumped out of the truck to assess the situation – and it wasn’t good. All of our bedding and mattresses were soaked. My bag was open and below one of the windows, so all my clothes were wet. All of the clothes that were outside drying were again soaking wet – Adam dumped about an inch of rain out of his tennis shoes. The double stroller that had just dried from the previous nights rain was again soaking wet. We were defeated. I told Adam there was no way we could stay – we didn’t have time to start to dry things out, it was already 4:15. I put some towels down in the stroller and took the boys for another walk while Adam and a few of our friends took everything down and packed up our truck. That was definitely the low point. We pulled out of the campground at 5:20 – and both boys immediately fell asleep and slept all the way home. Once home we had to try and feed the kids. Kale ate a little, but was so tired that we just gave him his bottle and got him to bed by 6:45. Nolan, on the other hand, was completely distraught from being woken up. He screamed and cried for about 20 minutes, finally ate a Gogurt, and we got him to bed at about 7:15. Adam and I then had to go outside and unload the truck and set up everything that was wet in our garage to dry - which was everything we had. We did take 45 minutes to enjoy a campfire in our backyard and have pizza and apple turnover pie irons. We were in bed at 9:30. Quite pathetic!
Had it not rained again Saturday afternoon we would have had a great time that night. Both boys were so tired that they would have gone to bed quickly and quietly. Our boys are at ages that are quite challenging sometimes. We sometimes forget that Nolan isn’t even 2 ½ yet and that he still requires quite a bit of attention from us. Kale just turned 11 months and is overall a great kid, but he’s teething right now. We won’t be doing any more camping adventures with the boys this year. Next year should be better, right?
Adam and I deserve some time away from the kiddos, so we are leaving them with my parent’s for the weekend so we can enjoy a cabin party with friends. I’m looking forward to sleeping in, enjoying some adult beverages and basically being selfish with my time!
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