Camping - Mormon Lake

 Vaughn went on his second camping trip and loved it! The whole trip up, he barely cried even though he was strapped into his car seat for over three hours. We did stop once to change his diaper and eat. It was quite the bumpy ride on the way up because we got a little (let's just say) lost. Dave decided to follow the GPS, which tried taking us on wild wild west, back in the pioneer days, horse and buggy trails. It wasn't so bad at first until we got to a point where we were surrounded by cattle mooing all around us and the dirt road literally turned into a dirt trail. We ended up turning around and making our way to the campsite in still good time. (and no, I didn't get any pictures...what was I thinking?)

We went camping with our friends, Lisa, Jason and Ryder. It was our first time as a family to camp out in the woods instead of a campground with hook ups or at least vault toilets. Jason and Lisa have a super nice big RV that we were able to use to heat Vaughn's food up, freeze Vaughn's food, give Vaughn a bath (with Ryder...way too fun), and of course, use the "facilities." In addition to the Gibbs' family, a few other of their friends camped with us as well.
 The fresh air and smell of pine had Vaughn in the greatest of moods. He was so excited to be FREE. He was just full of giggles and smiles even as the sun went down. Shortly after dinner, it was time to start getting ready for bed. There wasn't much room in our pop-up camper for the pack n' play so we decided to try having Vaughn sleep with us in our full size bed. I went to bed with Vaughn who fell asleep right away.

The first half of the first night went okay. I had a very hard time sleeping since I had my fragile little baby boy sleeping next to me in the open bed instead of caged all up in his crib. He didn't seem to mind it at all. Even when Dave came to bed, Vaughn remained completely asleep in between the two of us...until (I'm guessing) 4am. Then, it was play time. Dave and I were so exhausted and yet Vaughn wanted to play with mommy and daddy. We tried everything to get him back to sleep. I mean, the sun wasn't even up so we should'nt have been up either. Dave kept begging me to nurse him (although he used different words not cuss words, just different words that I'm not going to publish on the internet) to get him back to sleep. I was sore from nursing him so I didn't want to. Then Dave lifted his shirt in efforts to have Vaughn fall asleep. haha! Vaughn was really confused so he started to play with his nipple. Eventualy, Vaughn went back to bed and didn't wake until we could hear everyone else at camp.

Day two was very relaxing. Our day started off with amazing breakfast Lisa made - eggs, hashbrowns and bacon. Yum!

Then we went into the town of Mormon Lake to get showers. We didn't realize that there was motorcycle event going on until we were surrounded by hardcore bikers. There were bikes and people dressed in leather everywhere even the showers.  When we pulled up to the Shower/Laundry Room, there was a line for the ladies. But as we were getting our things together some ladies decided to go into the men's room so Dave actually had to wait while I got to get a shower immediately. The shower felt great as warm water always does while camping. Vaughn got to take a shower with daddy. Dave said Vaughn did great and absolutely loved it. After we were clean, it was time to go get dirty again back at our site. 

We were going to go hiking but didn't have room for Vaughn's carrier so we just hung out under the trees and in the gorgeous cool weather all day. Vaughn even ended up taking a two hour nap in his pack n' play inside Lisa and Jason's trailer. After Vaughn woke up, we set the pack n' play up in our camper on top of the table area in hopes of getting better sleep (for mommy and daddy). I almost forgot, we got to take a ride on the Rhino (one of Jason's toys) with Vaughn. He had a ball until he got a little cold. Once we got back, it did rain a little so we stayed inside until it let up. Vaughn loved listening to the rain. After dinner, Vaughn got to take a bath with Ryder, then he went right to sleep by himself in the pack n' play. Dave and I got to enjoy some campfire time before heading to bed.

Night two went a little better, but Vaughn woke up again. This time, we think it was because he was cold. I dressed him in a sleeper underneath a zip up wearable sleeping bag-like garment. I have no idea what it's called! It was fleece pj's without feet; but he had the pj's with feet on underneath. Let me see how much more I can ramble on about what he was wearing for bed! I'll spare you. Anyhoo, the clothes didn't keep him warm because he kept tossing and turning then cried a little until we rescued him. It was a little easier getting him back to sleep this time. We just warmed him up in between us with our body heat and he was out. I may have nursed him, too. I know what you may be thinking, but it worked, he was content, and we got some sleep.

Packing up went okay. It always seems like packing up takes so much longer then setting up. Vaughn just hung out in his stroller staring at the trees above him. We got everything packed in the trailer and car and were off to Pine for some brunch.

Vaughn must have been able to tell we were heading home to the heat or he was just a little overtired because he cried quite a bit on the ride back to Surprise. We both did get a little nap, though, before having to stop when Rocco got sick (YUCK!). It was so HOT outside when we stopped. We all were missing that nice cool air up in the pines.

Overall, the camping trip went very well. Thank you, Jason, Lisa and Ryder for having us!!! Vaughn had a great time. It's only going to get more fun and probably dirtier with him as he grows. We are so excited about all the memories we are going to create with our family...camping!