Tales from the Sofa: Back to Camping - A weekend at Coos Canyon

Jesse and I were avid campers and hikers before we had children. We have hiked many of New England's tallest mountains, including Katahdin and Washington. We have backpacked into campsites several miles into trails. We had mastered car camping and were on our way to becomming skilled backpackers. Then we had kids. We swore, when we became pregnant with Eli, that just because we were having a baby, we were not going to give up the things we loved the most. And, for the most part, that was true. We still do most of the things we loved to do in our "before kids" life. But camping was one of the few things that fell by the wayside.

First, pregnancy made me very very ill. So we did not camp at all the summer I was pregnant with Eli. Logistically, it seemed impossible. I needed to get to a safe place to vomit in a very short amount of time, usually without any warning at all. The several zippers that must be undone in order to exit a tent seemed like a formidable barrier. And after Eli was born, it all still seemed too complicated. Serious hiking was out - too dangerous with a baby on your back. Even short hikes seemed overwhelming. Backpacking, for even a short trip, too became an impossibility. We could not bring enough stuff if one of us were carrying the baby. Even car camping seemed too hard to plan. Where would the baby sleep? Would he sleep in a tent by himself without becoming scared? Would we all have to go to bed at 7:00? The overwhelming sense of the unknown got the better of us, and we just gave up trying. By the time Eli finally seemed old enough to have fun on a camping trip, I was pregnant with the girls, and once again was sick sick sick...the circle started again.

But this last weekend we finally took the plunge and jumped back in again. And, we had a BLAST! It makes me wonder what we were so afraid of. It was not as easy as it used to be, and, it is a good thing that we went with others because we forgot SO many things, but overall it was a great success.

We borrowed a tent (thank you Wiers Family!) big enough to put the pack-n-plays in, so the girls had cribs to sleep in. We have been reading books to Eli about camping, so he was all psyched to sleep in a sleeping bag in the tent. We went with my parents, my sister's family, and my brother's family joined us the second night. There were plenty of kids around to keep each other entertained. And, there was plenty of time, after kids went to bed, for the grown-ups to sit around the fire, drink a few beers and make smores. It was a busy few days, with a trip to Santa's Village thrown in, but, it was so fun to share with Eli and the girls something Jesse and I so love to do. It may be awhile yet before there are any big backpacking adventures (at least, with our children) but I think another car camping trip may be in order soon.