First Camping Trip

This weekend we took another trip down to my DH's mom's cabin near Antonito. DH's brother and his family were staying at the cabin, so there was no room for us, so it was a good time to give camping a first try with the little one around.

This is where we stopped for lunch on the five hour trip down south.
And Natalie enjoyed some cookies for dessert after lunch back in the car. It's always hard to get her back in her car seat after so many hours in it. Cookies helped.

But once we got to the cabin it was all fun and games.

And she liked playing with Peyton and Sarah and all the fun toys they'd brought to the cabin. Peyton was a good sport and didn't mind too much when she destroyed his lines of armies.

And Sarah learned just how heavy a 20 lb baby really is!

Once we got back to our campground, where we'd previously only set up the tent, we came to the realization that we didn't have batteries for the air mattress! This is the first time we've camped with one, (we thought it would be better for all of us if there was a comfy bed during Natalie's first camping trip), and we the package was not specific about the inflation instructions. Luckily, as we made this unsettling discovery (an hour past bedtime!), the camp managers pulled up in their truck to get some I.D. to go with the check we'd written them! Luckily they had a pump in their RV and they took DH and our floppy mattress back with them, and then delivered him and the inflated mattress about fifteen minutes later on their golf cart!

So it was a rocky first night, but we were finally settled into bed.

We woke up and Natalie seemed to think this tent living was no big deal.

We went back to the cabin for some pancakes, and to sign the rock in the basement. Natalie's prints were a bit smudgy.

Here are the girls on the porch.

And the whole gang right before we saw Kenton and Kellye off. We packed up our camp site and headed to Crestone for night two. We were going to stop at the Great Sand Dunes, but it was already hot, and we knew it would be worse there, so we'll probably save that trip for the fall. One of these days for sure.

On our way to Crestone we had stopped and visited the Alamosa farmer's market, and ate our lunch in front of this really classy bar. It was nice and cool in the shade.

But we decided to finish our lunch in the car after a few really nice folks left the bar to linger and smoke around the corner from us, (one told directing the F bomb at us in passing!)

Natalie's getting some good use out of her few teeth now! She didn't get much of the apple, but she cried every time I tried to take it from her to help her, so I guess she's on her own there, little Miss Independent.
Here we are at campsite number two just North of Crestone in the Sangre de Christos. We liked all the fun stumps for Nat to play on.

And here she is helping get the tent ready.

Climbing on some rocks with dad.

And moving the car into the shade! Her first time in the driver's seat!

Our attempt at nap time.

I have been taking the blackout blinds in Nat's bedroom for granted. Setting the mood for nap time is much harder when it's bright out. Even for a tired baby. In our case it just made for a crazy baby, and the air mattress turned the tent into a jumpy castle!!

But eventually we did get to sleep, and after nap time we began to set up the fire and get dinner ready.
Natalie wasn't much fazed by the change in scenery when it came to dinner time.

Here's DH flipping our humongous steak over the fire... we didn't come prepared to grill and he had to use his knife.
After a surprisingly easy night, and late morning, we took a little hike into the National forest. The trail head was right next to our site.

But our hike was cut short by the swarms of mosquitoes surrounding us. No matter how much bug spray we had on, they would not be deterred. I have five bites on my elbow alone!! Natalie had one that made her hand swell up and we had to head out and find some Benadryl!! (the hand is much better now, thank goodness!)

So while we packed up the rest of the camp site, she played in the backseat of the car with the AC running.

Our drive back was pretty quick and uneventful. We woke up our sleepy baby for a lunch break at a BBQ place. Here she is playing on the porch of the restaurant before we head out one last time. Check out that bite on her cheek!! Poor thing!

After lunch Nat slept the whole way home. I'm tempted to make Benadryl a part of our road trip plans from now on, but something about that just doesn't seem right...

We're considering a similar trip for next weekend since DH's sister and her fam will be visiting the cabin then. I think we'll be up for it by then, but right now it's just nice to be home and heading to our own bed!