Spending uninterrupted time as a family has been exceptionally fun. I thought by the time we hit Nashville Lucy and I would be on a plane to California and Jim would meet us there with the car. Motherhood has taught me, once again, to give LuLu more credit than I think she may deserve and to be more gracious with myself and my marriage than ever before. I have to keep thinking, "what is the worst that could happen? What if she cries in her seat? What if we don't stay on schedule?" Jim is forever helpful in reinforcing that we stop if she cries and we show up a day late if our schedule gets messy.
Traveling really has been easy up to this point. This is the most rock climbing I have done since Lucy was born, which I would have never expected. We got to hit the gym in Roanoke and Nashville and then landed in Little Rock, AK to go outdoor climbing at Horseshoe Canyon with two nights of camping. Despite the difficulty of finding a campsite and of a general fear of humidity and mosquitoes destroying Lucy, we had a wonderful time. The Breaker family hosted us for an evening before we pitched tents in the canyon. I used California Baby bug spray on Lucy and we bought her hand-held fans in Washington to keep her cool. We even heated up some river water on our camp stove to let her have a cooling bath in the shade.
Climbing went surprisingly well, although having a third person was definitely beneficial. It is not a sustainable option, but we did carry in the boulder pad for both days of climbing and this gave Lucy a great play space and a comfy spot for nursing. When she needed to nap I put her in the front carrier and found a cool spot in a large rock cave to rock her to sleep. I fed her when she needed to eat. I cannot remember why I had so many worries about camping (and soooo much gear. I pack and play, a bouncy seat, a bath tub, two hand-held fans AND a bumbo seat was a little over kill).
I was so calmed down about camping that we decided to camp for one night in the Palo Duro Canyon outside of Amarillo, TX. What we didn't know was that this part of the country had just received a record amount of rain for the entire month of rain welcoming the horseflies to the canyon. We set-up camp at a lovely, well maintained desert site, napped Lucy in the hammock and momentarily enjoyed the awesome parents that we were becoming. Then a horsefly bit Lucy on the head and I lost all ability to think rationally. After cooling down in the gift shop, Jim convinced me to quit the adventure, pack up the tent and drive to Albuqueque, NM. This was some of the best quitting we have ever done as a family and I am still grateful that we did.
After the first round of camping went reasonably well unbelievable humidity and bugginess, we decided to stay for four nights when we got to Flagstaff, AZ. There were a number of differences that made this part of the trip much more enjoyable and that I would highly recommend to future us and anyone camping with a baby. Flagstaff had an amazingly enjoyable climate with little humidity and few bugs. We only used the hammock, baby bath and boudler pad for gear this time. I would recommend a high chair seat that clips onto a table for meals and cooking. We have two of them now and it makes meal time much more enjoyable at home and at restaurants. Having a space for baby to unwind was great. The boulder pad was awesome for this, but now that Lucy is scootching around we have a little pop up tent that we are going to try out for camping and climbing (report to follow). Carrying an umbrella is cooling than hats and covering skin with clothing or light blankets. The baby bath was a lug to drag to across the country, but Lucy loved having time to play in the water outside and we just heated up water on our pocket rocket camp stove. Lucy had no trouble falling asleep while we were camping. I had nightmares of her screaming and keeping the whole campground up. She loves to be outside. As far as she is concerned she would prefer to live in a tent. She even rolled over and put herself to sleep a few times, which just does not happen inside. Is camping with a baby crazy? Turns out it isn't. It is actually quite enjoyable. And besides that, camping baby photos are too cute not to try for.
Spending uninterrupted time as a family has been exceptionally fun. I thought by the time we hit Nashville Lucy and I would be on a plane to California and Jim would meet us there with the car. Motherhood has taught me, once again, to give LuLu more credit than I think she may deserve and to be more gracious with myself and my marriage than ever before. I have to keep thinking, "what is the worst that could happen? What if she cries in her seat? What if we don't stay on schedule?" Jim is forever helpful in reinforcing that we stop if she cries and we show up a day late if our schedule gets messy.
Traveling really has been easy up to this point. This is the most rock climbing I have done since Lucy was born, which I would have never expected. We got to hit the gym in Roanoke and Nashville and then landed in Little Rock, AK to go outdoor climbing at Horseshoe Canyon with two nights of camping. Despite the difficulty of finding a campsite and of a general fear of humidity and mosquitoes destroying Lucy, we had a wonderful time. The Breaker family hosted us for an evening before we pitched tents in the canyon. I used California Baby bug spray on Lucy and we bought her hand-held fans in Washington to keep her cool. We even heated up some river water on our camp stove to let her have a cooling bath in the shade.
Climbing went surprisingly well, although having a third person was definitely beneficial. It is not a sustainable option, but we did carry in the boulder pad for both days of climbing and this gave Lucy a great play space and a comfy spot for nursing. When she needed to nap I put her in the front carrier and found a cool spot in a large rock cave to rock her to sleep. I fed her when she needed to eat. I cannot remember why I had so many worries about camping (and soooo much gear. I pack and play, a bouncy seat, a bath tub, two hand-held fans AND a bumbo seat was a little over kill).
I was so calmed down about camping that we decided to camp for one night in the Palo Duro Canyon outside of Amarillo, TX. What we didn't know was that this part of the country had just received a record amount of rain for the entire month of rain welcoming the horseflies to the canyon. We set-up camp at a lovely, well maintained desert site, napped Lucy in the hammock and momentarily enjoyed the awesome parents that we were becoming. Then a horsefly bit Lucy on the head and I lost all ability to think rationally. After cooling down in the gift shop, Jim convinced me to quit the adventure, pack up the tent and drive to Albuqueque, NM. This was some of the best quitting we have ever done as a family and I am still grateful that we did.
After the first round of camping went reasonably well unbelievable humidity and bugginess, we decided to stay for four nights when we got to Flagstaff, AZ. There were a number of differences that made this part of the trip much more enjoyable and that I would highly recommend to future us and anyone camping with a baby. Flagstaff had an amazingly enjoyable climate with little humidity and few bugs. We only used the hammock, baby bath and boudler pad for gear this time. I would recommend a high chair seat that clips onto a table for meals and cooking. We have two of them now and it makes meal time much more enjoyable at home and at restaurants. Having a space for baby to unwind was great. The boulder pad was awesome for this, but now that Lucy is scootching around we have a little pop up tent that we are going to try out for camping and climbing (report to follow). Carrying an umbrella is cooling than hats and covering skin with clothing or light blankets. The baby bath was a lug to drag to across the country, but Lucy loved having time to play in the water outside and we just heated up water on our pocket rocket camp stove. Lucy had no trouble falling asleep while we were camping. I had nightmares of her screaming and keeping the whole campground up. She loves to be outside. As far as she is concerned she would prefer to live in a tent. She even rolled over and put herself to sleep a few times, which just does not happen inside. Is camping with a baby crazy? Turns out it isn't. It is actually quite enjoyable. And besides that, camping baby photos are too cute not to try for.
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