Kyan and I decided that this summer we would make an effort to go camping. For some reason, last summer we had good intentions but never made it. So, I sat down and made reservation for a couple of campsites for two different weekends in the summer.
The FIRST was planned for Whidbey Island. We planned on camping with Kyan's brother and his family but as the weekend approached, the weather looked awfully rainy and miserable. So, we opted to change our plans and head down to Grandpa and Grandma Skeem's place. The weather looked more promising and they live on 25 acres of forest. So, who says camping HAS to be at a campsite? It turned out to be a wonderful experience. It was the same weekend as Samuel's 2nd birthday so we were able to celebrate his birthday at his Grandparents AND go camping. It all turned out to be a good experience.
Our SECOND camping trip was planned for Orcas Island, Moran State Park. This took place toward the end of August. Kyan took the Friday off so that we could have a long weekend of camping. The weather was perfect. We packed the car with everything we needed plus some new fishing poles. Samuel could hardly wait. He was so excited about the whole idea of camping that he spent the day before, going through all of the camping gear and playing with it (Yes, very helpful indeed).
Unfortunately, I never took any pictures of the trip except the ferry dock. We spent most of Friday at the ferry dock trying to catch the stupid ferry. We had missed our first ferry because it was CRAZY BUSY for some reason. So, we ended up having to wait 3-1/2 hours to get onto the next ferry. Um.....yeah, not how we had envisioned spending our Friday. It didn't help that it was during Samuel's nap time so he wasn't the most pleasant. Nontheless, we managed to get on the ferry and from there on we had a pleasant experience.
Though we had a pleasant time, we learned a few things from this trip.
- Don't go camping on an island if you don't want to wait at a ferry dock for hours.
- A 2 year old is not old enough to go fishing. He will want to play with the fishing pole, hooks, and bate. Skip the fishing and just rent the row boat.
- Also, candy is a good idea while fishing if you don't mind a melt down shortly after the fishing experience.
- Enjoy camping by exploring and going on the nearby kid friendly hikes. Samuel loved seeing the little waterfalls at the end of the hike.
- It's okay to take a nap when the kid takes a nap during the day, especially if you are pregnant and you didn't sleep too soundly because you woke up in the night to your husband having to chase the deer away from the garbage bag hanging from the tree.
- Don't place your tent under a tall tree with pine cones. We woke from our nap to pine cones falling on our tent because apparently squirrels like to harvest them from the tree and then collect the fallen ones for food... I guess? We just happened to be right where the squirrel was harvesting. We initially thought kids were chucking them at our tent but quickly learned that wasn't the case after we spotted the fuzzy brown culprit up in the trees.
- We learned from a year earlier that our child doesn't handle hot chocolate very well before bed. So, Kyan and I enjoyed our hot chocolate by the fire without Samuel. Yes, it's okay to enjoy some alone time even when family camping.
The THIRD camping trip was without Kyan. He was on his brother's hike. Samuel and I went camping with my Mom and Dad and my little sister Kimberlee. We found a campsite at Lake Kachess and had a wonderful time. Samuel loved playing with Kimberlee, spending time with Grandma making water canals and bridges and making sails boats with Grandpa which were made from driftwood, sticks and leaves. They set them to sail a few times. It was fun to watch. I even made one myself.
They are memories nonetheless. :)
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