Camping Trip #2

Last weekend we decided to attempt our second camping trip with the babes, and this time there was climbing involved as well!

Micah left early Saturday morning for El Rito with Dan and his five-year-old (almost six-year-old) and four-year-old boys. While the guys climbed, I stayed home and took care of the babes and finished packing. We decided that it would be better if I went later with the babes so that they could get in a good morning nap and a lot of playtime at home. At 1:30 I left our house, picked up Val, and we headed to El Rito (after a very necessary stop at Starbucks....it's exhausting to take care of three babes, pack, and load up the car by myself!). I was hoping that the babes would nap since they normally nap in the afternoon, but I wasn't so lucky. I don't think anyone napped more than 30 minutes or so during the two plus hour drive, but Val and I were able to carry on a nice conversation despite the protests from the backseat. Although I felt bad about the crying and we made sure there were plenty of pacifiers and some toys available, there wasn't much we could do about it.

We met the guys at the El Rito campground around 4:00 as they were done climbing for the day. After setting up our campsite we made an easy dinner, hung out for a bit, and then put the babes to bed. Although there was a little crying, they all fell asleep pretty easily.

Val hanging out by the kids while the guys set up camp. Did I mention she's 27 weeks pregnant? She's a rockstar pregnant lady: camping and climbing!

Me with the babes while eating dinner (J, F, A)

The night, on the other hand, was a little rough as the babes woke up many times throughout the night and I was very worried about them being cold. It was hard to dress them properly since it was warm when they went to bed and it got much cooler as the night went on. Around 4:00 a.m. Faith woke up and we could not get her back to sleep. We put on more clothes and blankets, we put her on the ground between us, we fed her a bottle, but nothing seemed to work. Around 5:30 a.m. I finally gave up and rocked her, which NEVER works with our babes, and surprisingly she fell right asleep! We were then able to sleep until about 7:00 a.m.

After eating breakfast and loading everyone up, we hiked the five minutes into the climbing area (FYI for our climbing friends, we went to Little River Wall, which is a new area at El Rito, and it was super fun!). The babes loved playing in the long grass among the sticks and rocks, and we let them walk and crawl around for awhile. We also brought a Pack n Play out which we put them in when we needed to contain them.

Breakfast all bundled up (J, A, F)

Getting ready to climb

Faith inspecting the climbing gear

Jack liked the big kids' shovel

Lexi found some bark

They loved the log as it was great for cruising!

Top to bottom: J, A, F

Lexi

Jack wanted to explore!

Faith

Since Micah had a full day of climbing on Saturday, he went back to the campsite with the babes for their morning nap while I continued climbing with Dan and Val. During the early afternoon Micah and Dan climbed for a couple of more hours while Val and I hung out at the campsite with the kids. Although the climbing area was nicer for playing than the campsite, it was in the sun in the afternoon and we were worried about the babes getting hot and sunburned.

Schedules do get a bit thrown off when we travel so the babes drank their bottles right before lunch

Playing in the Pack n Play in the afternoon. Our first camping trip was in late July and we didn't have any walkers yet, so we knew this time would be slightly different. Last time we relied on our Go Pods to contain and help entertain the babes but they no longer tolerate being confined to those, so instead we used a Pack n Play outside. Although the Pack n Play got extremely dirty it was a great solution as everyone could move around (at least a little bit) yet they couldn't crawl in the dirt (and broken glass...not the nicest campground).

Around 3:30 we packed up the car and left for home! Again, the babes had some trouble sleeping even though it was time for their afternoon nap, but both girls got in at least a 30 minute nap during our drive.

Although it was another short camping trip (in July we were gone for 24 hours door-to-door and this time we were gone for about 28 hours door-to-door), we had fun hanging out with our friends, getting in some climbing, and getting our babes out of the house and into the wilderness! We are hopeful that bringing them along on camping and climbing trips will help them enjoy it as the years go on.

Ironically, exactly one year earlier to the day we took our babes on their first climbing day trip. That day was completely different as we were feeding the babes every three hours during the day and they slept most of the time we were climbing. It was also so much colder that day too, which is why the babes are so bundled in this pic.