We love camping. At least, we think we love camping. Then after all the planning and shopping and packing and the drive we arrive at the campsite exhausted and ready for bed. Except first you have to set up the tent and get a fire started quickly before nightfall. And don't get me started on the bugs. Oh how I hate bugs. That's not entirely true, I'm actually quite tolerant of bugs in general. I think they are important living things with a role in the circle of life, and as long as they aren't in my home or on me or my food, I'm fine with their existence. But then I go camping, and I have to remember I'm in their home, and I'm not too fond of them at that point.
So really, camping sounds awesome until you are actually there. Makena, like most kids, loves the outdoors. Camping offers such freedom from normal every day life. I have so many wonderful memories of all the camping trips we took as a family when I was growing up. Last summer Makena had a blast camping, and we wanted to go again this summer but hadn't planned anything. Then on Thursday July 26th Pam sent me a text from work asking if we wanted to go camping this weekend. The family she works with were going and invited us along on a last minute trip. They had already paid for the campsite, all we needed to bring was our camping stuff and food, so we said yes! What a whirlwind. I dropped Pam at work on Friday morning, bought some batteries and things at Wal-Mart, took Makena to her gym class, went to our storage unit and pulled out our tent and supplies, then we had lunch at Target and bought some groceries and an air mattress since I couldn't find ours and they were on sale for like $25 for a queen sized one. Picked up Pam at work when she called saying she was off early, then we stopped at the grocery store on the way home for s'mores stuff and ice.
Packed up the cooler and car, then we met Julie and her older two kids and their friend, and we followed them up over the Santa Cruz mountains to Big Basin State Park. I'd camped there years ago, and the ride was nerve-wracking. One car was so annoyed to be behind a slow line of 4 cars that it zoomed around us while speeding towards a blind curve. I was so terrified a car would come in the other direction and they'd fly off the mountain in front of us. We made it safely and checked in, then started making our campsite livable while the kids explored.
4 year old Nash was so sweet to Makena. He gave her a head lamp to wear and kept fixing it for her, then she'd tell him to chase her and they ran around in the dark laughing.
In the morning we found racoon prints all over!
Makena thought she was so funny using a fork and a spoon at the same time.
We went on a walk and saw the "Mother of the forest," the second tallest redwood in the park.
Makena got a kick out of standing inside the tree. She hated putting bug spray on, and screamed each time. But there were lots of mosquitoes around and tick warnings.
Our walk was actually along a hiking trail, and I was trying to lead us to a geocache but my gps reception was terrible. It was taking much longer than I expected, and Makena was struggling to keep the pace. I was cursing myself for not bringing the Ergo with us, dang it!!!! Then we came upon a buzzing sound, and had to step over some standing water that had bees all over it, and shortly after that I called it quits. We were tired and hungry and didn't know how much farther we had to go, and so we turned around. Pam held Makena and within minutes she was asleep. Poor baby was exhausted! We couldn't believe she just fell asleep like that, and got worried she was feverish or something. But she was just tired.
Makena really loved walking in the creek. She picked out rocks and we dried them off and painted them later.
All the kids played so well together. I brought a couple Klutz books with us to keep them busy. Our screened in porch was a hit. Makena had so much fun going in Brooklyn's little tent that she was sharing with her friend Maddie. They played Barbies (Makena's first time...) and I totally laughed when I heard the girls calling them "Mom 1 and Mom 2"
Makena bounced on the air mattress and it was so hilarious! I took a video of it, and as I was filming she bounced right off the side and fell into her potty. Thankfully it was empty! And she only hurt her arm a bit, I was worried she'd smash her face into it as I saw her flying through the air. Funny how those things happen in slow enough motion that you can process everything that's happening/about to happen, yet there isn't enough time to do anything to stop it. Like they say- it's all fun and games till someone gets hurt!
We packed up and headed home on Sunday morning. The drive was still nerve-wracking but also beautiful. California is so awesome, we have the best of so many worlds. Mountains, beaches, urban, suburban... I feel lucky to live here.
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