First Time Camping

Not Toddles first time camping, mine.  That is without some other adult running the show.  Since we weren't going to make it back to Utah this summer, and couldn't afford anything else we decided to take a little camping trip.  We packed up and prepared all the stuff we needed (we forgot a few things, like fixings for lunch but what are you going to do?) and headed to Hamlin Beach.  Some beach on Lake Ontario (that doesn't close near as often as the other beach).  Luckily we did get a camp site for two nights.  It was great!  We had a little trouble getting the fire started, but once we did we cooked up our foil dinners and had a delicious meal.  Thank you Grill Mates!  Toddles loved being in nature.  He especially loved diving into the tent and onto the air matress.  He followed the rules really well around the fire and was a great little camper.  He loved his new camp chair too. 

We headed over to the beach and got to play for about an hour before we had to go get dinner going, Toddles could've stayed for another 6 hours.  Luckily we were going back the next day.  We thought it would be really fun to watch a movie on the little dvd player after dinner, so we redboxed Puss in Boots and when we were settled, started the movie (it had to be close to 11pm).  About 5 minutes in, I rolled over and fell asleep... five minutes after that Toddles fell asleep... and 5 minutes after that Brett decided to go to bed too.  We only have a 2 man tent, and a twin size air matress, and for some reason we thought it could work for all three of us.  Maybe it would have if one of us didn't require more space than others (Toddles), or if one of us isn't extremely round in the middle (Jenna)... So Brett being the amazing husband he is, volunteered to sleep on the little strip of tent next to the air mattress.  I felt really really bad, but I went with it.  Luckily it cooled off that night so we actually were quite comfortable.  Brett woke up early and decided to go fishing, I told him to wait for Toddles because he was so excited to go fishing, but Brett said he would take him later.  I really thought Toddles would wake up when he heard the car turn on, but he didn't.  So luckily I got to go back to sleep too.  We didn't wake up again until Brett came back, at 9am.  Toddles rarely sleeps that late so it was really nice.  We had breakfast consisting of Wegman's doughnuts and bananas.  Then we got ready and headed back to the beach for some more water fun. 

Toddles really could have spent hours and hours in the water, but it got to be so hot that I couldn't handle it anymore.  So we packed up, and went back to the campsite for lunch.  We decided to eat the bratwurst we were planning on having for dinner, and after that, we tried to watch the movie again, but it was too hot.  I laid down for a nap.  Then Brett took a nap, while I played with Toddles.  We got some nice cloud cover so we headed back to the beach for more sand time.  We also did a little bit of fishing.  We played at the playgrounds, and Toddles went down some really tall metal slides.  There was a little creek running through part of the park that had some stone bridges to walk on.  The real fun was looking over the edge and seeing what kind of creatures lived down there.  We spotted a lot of different frogs waiting for some food.  Toddles and I watched them for quite a while during one of Brett's fishing spells.  Then we came back to them with Brett.  We found a frog on the grass and got to watch him quickly hop.  Toddles loves creatures and got the biggest kick out of those frogs.  Sadly, no pictures.  For dinner we decided it would be easiest to go to McDonald's and not eat the same thing we had for lunch.  Toddles ate 6 chicken nuggets, all of his fries, probably a quart of ketchup, all his chocolate milk, and an apple slice.  He got some kind of wired toy that he is very attatched to and calls it a robot.  Sitting close to us was a little old lady that Toddles was having fun playing peek-a-boo with.  It was really cute to watch.  After some ice cream, we headed back to camp.

Back at the campsite we found some toads that we were able to get pictures of.  Toddles loved to shine the big flashlight on them and watch them hop away.  He also for some reason really liked taking a shower in the grimy campsite bathroom.  He was really funny, and all over the place.  We again tried to watch the movie, and he was just too tired.  I think we all were.  He couldn't find his "robot" and threw a fit about it.  It was lost, it was gone, "daddy go find it!" major tantrum.  It was nonsensical, so Brett tried to find it but couldn't.  We told Toddles we would find it when the sun came out and we could see.  That kinda helped, but he was still really sad.  He did fall asleep pretty quickly after that.  Brett again slept on the ground and I stayed on the comfy mattress, but it did not cool off.  It was really really warm so I didn't sleep that well.  In the morning Brett again went fishing, but this time Toddles woke up before he got back.  I was awake but just lying there and when Toddles opened his eyes, he looked at me, smiled and said... "Mommy, the sun came out!"  We went out of the tent and the "robot" was sitting on the table.  Brett had found it and had it waiting for Toddles. All was well with the world.

(Tired of taking pictures)

 After McDonald's dinner, Brett really wanted to have that father-son fishing moment so we went back to fishing spot and tried and tried to catch a fish.  Finally when Toddles and I were losing it, they caught a fish.  I'm not sure what it was, but Toddles got to reel it in.  It was just a little thing, mostly green with some orange spots on his belly.  Toddles called it a "green tiger fish."  It was so cute.  Brett got the hook out, handed it to Toddles and he got to throw it back in the water.  It was very a very successful fishing moment.  We had so much fun on our camping trip and loved spending time as a family.  On our last morning, Brett went fishing one last time, and while he was gone I pretty much packed up our camp site.  Everything but the tent, which I considered but thankfully didn't try.  I was ready to go.  So when Brett got back we were able to leave pretty quickly.  It was a blast, but I don't think I will ever try camping while pregnant again.  It was pretty tough on the body, but I did it, we survived and had a lot of fun.