This was going to be an exciting weekend. We were going with two other couples, both with kids. One couple came with a 2 month old, Bree, and an almost 2 year old, Sophia. Boy was that insightful about life with two kids! The other couple have a 15 month old little boy, Sebastian. This would be Mya's first camping trip and mommy's first time back on her mountain bike. :)
I admit I was a little nervous, although the weather forecast was in the 80's during the day, it gets coldddddd at night. Would Mya be too cold? Would we be up all night? What if she didn't sleep? All these questions and concerns drifted through my head during our 3 and 1/2 drive out there.
Once we got there the "girls" got to ride first, so my friend Sheryl and I suited up and off we went. Daddy pitched the enormous "family" sized tent we borrowed from a friend, while trying to keep Mya from eating leaves, sticks, and anything else she found on the ground.
Note to parents, camping with a crawler is not easy, they will not stay on the blankets you put down for them, they try and put everything into their mouths, and then because they are held a little too much, they do not expend the energy that they are used to. When we put her in the tent she zoomed around trying to get out all of her energy at once. We also brought the pack and play, THANK GOD, it was the best decision we made. Mya took a short afternoon nap while I rode. When I returned, it was daddy's turn. I fed Mya dinner in her booster seat on the ground, another good call. I was still in my bike shorts and did not change, eat, drink or do anything else until I put Mya to bed. I know that just comes with the territory of being a parent, it's not about you anymore... So all this time, my friend Val, the one with two kids, is cooking diner for everyone, getting dinner ready for her 2 year old and making sure her 2 month old is ok. It was amazing to watch because I could barley get it together with one kid there.
Our Little camper, stick and all!
The other great thing about this trip is that we found a wonderful family friendly camp ground, fully equipped with showers, bathrooms, a lake, lots of trees and grass. We have been camping in Fruita for the past 5 years on this dirt road that has NO shade, no bathrooms and it literally on the side of a dirt road. Funny how kids change a lot of things in your life. This camp ground was filled, and I mean filled with children, running around, biking around, yelling screaming, playing. The good thing about it is that since everyone is parents there, everyone understands. This was especially funny right around bed time. Let me tell you there were a lot of overtired, whiney and crying children. Some who refused to go to bed, but REALLY needed to go to bed, and others that were just so overtired they could not go to sleep and instead cried and screamed until finally giving in.
I was lucky. Mya is a sleeper and once I figured out what to put on her to keep her warm all night, she literally went to sleep without a peep. I put a down sleeping bag under the pack and play mattress. I dressed her in a warm, windproof fleece with wool socks underneath and a long sleeve onsie underneath as well. The feet and hands folded over to keep her feet and hands warm and there was a hood that I put up. Once in the pack and play asleep, I also laid a think comforter over the top of it, to keep her warm and to also keep out the early morning light. After all that Mya went to bed and slept from 7:00p.m. until just before 7:00a.m. in the morning, both of us were VERY happy about that. Of course I woke up off and on all night to check to see if she was warm, was her face covered, could she breath, but SHE got a great nights sleep and was happy as can be in the morning.
It was good to know that not only is Mya a good camper she is also a happy camper!
Paul and I even got a chance to ride together and although the trail we picked turned out to be more of a "hiking" trail for us, due to deep sand and super steep uphills, we were surrounded by beautiful surroundings, and as Paul kept telling me, it was just great to get out together.
Another first successfully checked off of our list!
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