Ada's First Camping Trip

4th of July weekend marked a big milestone in Ada's life. She went camping for a whole weekend.

I'll admit I was really nervous about packing all of our stuff into our little Honda Civic. Amazingly it all fit. (2 sleeping bags, air mattress, pack and play, stroller, medium cooler for beer, milk, string cheese and grapes, pillows, blankets, Ada, Pooh Bear, Yertle the Turtle, Bunny, Bear, sippy cups, snacks, clothes, more clothes, bug repellent, sun block, swimsuits, hats, sunglasses, a pail and shovel, beach towels, towels, shoes, camping chairs, games, flashlights, Rick, me, etc.) We did have to remove the cooler each time we needed to get Ada out of her car seat because we packed her in pretty good. But that's understandable right?

We camped in Wisconsin at Yellowstone State Park -- not the National Park. That isn't in Wisconsin, unfortunately. After a scenic drive through Rockford via Business 20 (I recommend you don't do that), we stopped for a fancy meal at Subway and ended up picnicking outside as there were no tables available inside. Lucky for us, Ada actually wore her sunglasses for the first time and prevented significant damage to her little retinas. :)

The first night, she decided to wake up to the sound of the tent zipper when Rick and I crawled into bed, and she ended up hogging most of the air mattress. Then she got up early with the owls in the forest, then the crows, and finally every bird known and unknown to man that starts chirping at 6 am. I took her on a butt-crack-o-don walk around the campsite and up a steep hill in her little umbrella stroller. (Can someone invent a motorized stroller already. Gesh! Thank goodness we live in the midwest and it's flat here.)

She had a muffin (or I should say she crumbled a muffin all over my lap) for breakfast. And then had some cantaloupe for lunch.

Then she spent a lot of time running around the fire pit and scaring everyone half to death. We were all on baby fire pit watch to keep her from getting too close. She had a great time going on walks with grandma and grandpa. Aunt Terri cuddled her down for a nice nap. Her schedule was completely off which made things a bit more challenging and poor Rick didn't get much of a break as she stuck to him like a sock on a static filled skirt straight out of the dryer. I'm sure his back is still hurting from holding her that much.

But I think she had fun...

She learned how to chase the light of a flashlight, just like a kitten and a laser pointer. That was entertaining.

And her new favorite place is the beach where she spent a full hour splashing in the water with her dad. She's pretty fearless when it comes to the water. I'm sure she drank a few cups of lake water but it didn't seem to bother her one bit. Now I'll have to step it up and get her in for some swim lessons.

Moral of the story: 99% of the things you stress about in life never happen. I know that but I still worry about packing and forgetting things and if Ada will sleep okay or get sick or eat enough or like the beach or get sunburned or we'll have good weather. Luckily, the odds were with us and she had a great time, stayed healthy and we got to relax with little rain. We'll be going again for a week in August so hopefully the odds will be with us then too.