First Camping Trip with Kids

Two weekends ago, Londo and I took the kids on an overnight camping trip. That's right, this Family That Travels went to the woods! And stayed in a tent!

I may not seem to be a camping or outdoorsy type of gal, but I actually love the outdoors and really have enjoyed camping. I have very fond memories of camping with my family, and I had a great time going with Londo and friends when we were in grad school. The trips haven't always been perfect, but that's part of the point. It's not just that I like the idea of camping, it's that I'm willing to accept that "roughing it" may be rough at time!

On the flip side, Londo has been camping regularly his whole life. He has all this knowledge about living in the outdoors, and he gets more enjoyment from nature (especially woods and mountains) than anyone else I know. He has all the gear and then some.

We've been wanting to take the kids for a few years, but Londo was concerned that the kids were too young. This year, we decided that they were probably old enough for us to try it. We decided we would go this year, this fall. Just an overnight at a nearby campgrounds to try it out. And that's what we did last weekend.

You know how you can like the idea of something but in reality it doesn't live up to your idea? Well, I'm happy to say that didn't happen! And it really was because of Londo. He made sure that things went smoothly, that there was enough to entertain the children, that we had everything we needed and that we were all set up.

It also went so well because we went with my brother, his wife, their teenager and their 5 year old twins. My brother and SIL were campers before having kids, their teenager is awesome, and the twins are fun and play really well with my kids. It was a smart plan to go in a big, fun group.

For this first trip, we rented a camping site at a state park about an hour from our house. My brother's family got the spot directly across from us. It was one of those spots that you pull the car up to and lay out your tent on a flattened, gravel surface. It had a metal, circular area for the camp fire, including a grill top for it. It also had a picnic table, an electrical outlet and was right near the bathrooms.

What can I say. We weren't going to rough it too hard for our first trip with a four year old and two year old!

The first unexpected issue we ran into was one I never suspected we'd have to worry about. Londo had laid out the tarp along the gravel and was just getting the tent ready to put up, when I realized that there were peanut shells EVERYWHERE. This was not some case of a few shells left behind and easy to clean up. They were all over every part of the gravel.

Okay, people. The first rule of camping is leave the area as you found. I don't care if peanut shells are biodegradable. They are litter when left behind all over the place. Not only that, but they are a serious health and safety hazard for my daughter who has a peanut allergy!

This campgrounds are specifically aimed at camping with families. And with peanut allergies on the rise, I find it irresponsible for people to leave behind peanut shells literally covering the ground. There were so many that Londo quickly abandoned the idea of sweeping them away. We ended up switching campsites with my brother's family, and then we all mostly hung out at our peanut shell-free campsite.

I know most people don't have to worry about a peanut allergy, and peanut shells are biodegradable, so I couldn't get too mad about it. It's just that we always have to be so aware of the peanut allergy. We can't leave it home even when we're camping in the woods. And that's why we bring the EpiPen everywhere.

Back to camping. It was my job to keep the kids occupied while Londo set up our tent and campsite. We started off looking at cool mushrooms, moss and bugs (that I didn't even flinch at, for the record). But after a while, they were starting to get interested in what Londo was doing.

So I came up with a game: Nature Scavenger Hunt! I gave them five things to look for (a red leaf, an acorn, a brown leaf, a gray rock and a white flower) and told them the boundries around the campsite where they could look. I helped them find the items and put them in their own piles on the picnic table.

One of the cutest things a kid said during the trip was my nephew who was looking for one of the items and having trouble. This adorable 5 year old says, "Oh who am I kidding. I'm never going to find it!" It was really hard not to laugh at that. Of course I helped him out a bit with that item, and then he ended up winning the Nature Scavenger Hunt!

After that, Londo and my brother taught my teenage neice how to build a fire, while the younger kids ran around inside our big, 6-person tent.

Food was a major source of entertainment. Londo cooked hamburgers and hotdogs for dinner, and we all sat at the picnic table enjoying the meal. Londo also brought a pan of popcorn to put over the fire, and my brother and SIL brought the makings for smores!

Londo also brought each of the kids a glow stick, which of course was a hit! Now there were two problems with those. 1. My kids did not want to put them down to go to sleep because they were so awesome, especially the Pookie who didn't understand why he couldn't keep it and stare at it instead of going to sleep. 2. There wasn't one for me. Hehe.

By bedtime, the kids were totally worn out and went to bed pretty easily--once I seperated them and put Pookie to bed first and then the Pumpkin, like I do at the beach house. When we try to put them to bed at the same time, they just feed off each other and go crazy and don't settle down at all. But Pookie first, then the Pumpkin works well.

Once asleep, the adults all hung out by the campfire, talking and laughing. My kids slept through it. My SIL went to hang out with her teenager for a while, and my brother, Londo and I stayed up a little later until I couldn't keep my eyes open any more. I crawled into the tent, snuggled up to the Pookie and fell asleep to the sound of crickets and two of my favorite guys talking about football.

You may be wondering how we all slept, four of us in a tent, including my not-so-great-sleeper daughter and my very-used-to-his-crib son. And the answer is: crappy--just as we expected. But because we expected crappy sleep, it did not ruin the trip or even really cause concern or dissappointment or frustration. We simply did not expect to sleep well, so when we didn't, it wasn't a problem.

The Pookie woke up crying and trying to get comfortable within 10 minutes of my falling asleep. I finally got him back to sleep by singing Hush Little Baby while jiggling him a little against me. He spent most of the night tossing and turning, sleeping on me more than not. Londo slept on the other side of the tent, next to the Pumpkin, and he said she helicoptered all night. So crappy sleep, but definitely some sleep. And we made it to morning!

One of my favorite parts about camping is waking up in the morning to the sounds of nature, remembering where I am and crawling out of the tent to see what the day is like. And it was a lovely morning.

We had eggs and bacon cooked on the campfire for breakfast. Then, my SIL and I took the kids on a hike through some trails, while the guys took down the tents and packed up the cars. The nature walk was awesome. We saw so many cool-looking mushrooms and moss, a catapiller, falling trees to climb over and even a white-tailed deer that ran right across our path only a few feet from us! We did take a slight wrong turn, so the hike ended up being longer than we'd planned, but no matter! There were piggyback rides and shoulder rides to help the kids along, stops for snacks and cool things to look at all along the way.

The trail ended at the lake, when Londo and my brother came walking up to us and finish the walk around the lake to where they parked the cars, with a brief stop at the lake's empty beach to play in the sand for a couple minutes.

The kids had an awesome time, as did the adults. Even the teenager admitted it was fun. My daughter even declared it the best time ever! In fact, everyone wants to go again as soon as possible! Because, you know, we're a Family That Camps!

A Family That Travels

Back in the Spring, before my torn meniscus and knee surgery and before Londo's back started acting up, I declared to Londo that we were going to be a Family That Travels. Sure, we've always been a family that travels (minus the first 18 months of the Pumpkin's life when she screamed bloody murder when in the car and carseat for more than 5 minutes). But we were now going to be a Family That Travels!

My parents bought a beach house about 3 hours from our house, and I planned to go almost every weekend from May to September! I would go with Londo and kids, by myself with both kids, with one kid or even by myself. When the kids went on summer break, we would take some of the vacation time to go to the beach and to my inlaws and camping and visiting friends! We were going to be so good at traveling as a family, that we'd be ready to hit Europe next summer (if only we could afford it)! Our bags would be halfway packed at all times, our cars ready to go, our mindsets open for whatever comes up. We'd be ready to go anywhere at the drop of a hat!

In fact, we started this new paradigm one weekend in May, when on a Thursday we decided to go to visit my inlaws (a 5 hour drive with no stops--so about 7 hours with two kids). We just packed up and went, and we had a great time... until I killed my knee while hiking up a hill. A hiatus on the traveling was forced upon me.

It's been a hard month and a half with me laid up recovering and Londo limited. But finally, finally!, we are starting to get into the swing of being a Family That Travels!

Two weekends ago, I took the Pumpkin with me to visit a friend. We handled a very (VERY!) difficult car ride up quite well. This past weekend, I took both kids with me to my parents beach house, and we had a great trip! Plus my brother and his family were there until Saturday, and my parents were there the whole weekend. We've got some good plans for the upcoming weekends and weeks while the kids are out of school. Not all of them are travel weekends, but we are going to be flexible in deciding when we stay and when we go. And when we go? No problemo! Because we are a Family That Travels.

There was a time period in my life when I thought I'd become a travel writer, even going to grad school for journalism, concentrating in magazine writing. That was not the road I ended up on, but I still love to read travel stories and I love to write about my travels. In fact, I hope to write more with my new outlook on travel with a husband and kids. Until I'm able to get some travel under my belt in my Family That Travels, I am enjoying reading travel stories about other families. Currently, I'm reading Family Travels: The Farther You Go, the Closer You Get, short stories by my favorite travel guide series, Travelers' Tales Guides. I have A Mother's World: Journeys of the Heart waiting to be read next!

I'm inspired by what I am reading about other families and their travels, far and wide. I know that it can be difficult to travel with kids. But I'm hoping with the right mindsets and the decree that we are a Family That Travels, we will take the difficulties in stride and really focus on the fun things we can do and see as we travel. I know that it is possible, because I grew up in a Family That Travels. Oh, the stories I could tell you...

Christmas Trip

I have made it successfully down to the in-laws. The dog and I left way later than I wanted to yesterday, and of course there was traffic, but we got in about 10:15, safe and sound.

Londo and the Pumpkin made the 5-6 hour trip down on Saturday afternoon, and I had a glorious three nights of good sleep by myself! I got all sorts of laundry and dishes done during the day. I got the dog bathed, clipped, cleaned and vaccinated. And I caught up on one of my favorite shows (Bones--I love it!) in the evenings.

Although that was the longest I've ever been away from my child, I was really thankful for the time alone to do the things I wanted/needed to do and for the sleep.

Now, we will have Christmas down here at the in-laws, and a good time will be had by all!

Vacation Highlights

Besides the lovely weather, there were a lot of great things about my vacation. Most of them (maybe all) directly related to my adventurous and active toddler. Here are a few:

- We were on the second floor of the hotel and took the elevator up and down multiple times a day. The Pumpkin called it the "elegator," which I truly hope she did not confuse with alligators. I do not want her to walk into their open mouths! Also, she loved to push the buttons for the elegator, and she was really good about only pushing the one we pointed to.

- I'm happy to report that so far the Pumpkin is a happy beach girl. This would be the third trip to the beach in her life, and each time has gone well. This time was especially good, because she is old enough to really enjoy it. She digs in the sand, she laughs as the surf hits her feet, she tries to go into the water farther (holding my hand at all times near the water), she picks up handfuls of wet sand and looks for shells, and she sits in the water left behind by the receeding tide and plays with her buckets and shovels. Also, she got a kick out of stomping in the water when I sang "If you're happy and you know it stomp your feet."

- The place where we stayed was really a resort area. This meant that things were expensive, but they were also very nice. (Thank goodness for the Hilton points my parents had saved up!) The Pumpkin did well at the couple of nice restaurants we went to, and I enjoyed some good meals.

- The plane rides went really well. I'm really glad that she did so well. Minimum fussing and no real screaming. All the tricks everyone told me really helped.

- I discovered that sometimes, when the Pumpkin can't reach my hair (like in her carseat on the plane), she will settle for the hair of a My Little Pony. But if my hair is at all an option, she still wants it during every bottle, when falling asleep and when she needs comfort. My hair is getting really sensitive to all the tugging and twisting. I'm hoping she will start going for the My Little Pony more and more.

- We are now on cold bottles and lying down in bed to fall alseep with the bottle for both naps and bedtime. These were just easier on vacation, and really it's time to start transitioning. I don't think Londo was ready for it, but I feel like it's probably past time and she seems to be handling it well.

- My parents got to spent a lot of quality time with the Pumpkin and really see how much personality she has now! Also, she is talking even more than she was the previous week, with new concepts and whole sentences. My parents are amazed and really enjoyed her.

I'm sure there are more, but that's all I've got for now. It really was a great vacation. It's hard to come back, but at least it's a short week.

Becoming Helpless

My parents raised me to be a strong, independent woman.

My mom encouraged me to explore, follow my curiosity, and trust in my body, mind and spirit. She passed on to me respect for other cultures and a travel lust to see other places, as well as the belief that I could go off on my own to see those other countries and cities. She never held me back, although she always held a safety net of love and support if I need to fall back.

My dad never had a different standard for his daughters than his son. He did understand that as individuals we had certain capabilities and needs that were different from each other, but if there was a sofa to be moved, he wouldn't wait for my brother or some other guy to help if I was there and up to the challenge. He did teach me that it was important to be respected as a woman but that it didn't mean that I should be treated as less capable of things than a man. When we packed the car for a trip, I was hauling bags and lifting them into the car. When my dad refinished the basement, added a room on the house and built a deck on the back, it was just assumed I'd help (and even known that I loved to help) with everything from bricklaying to electrical wiring.

I went to college with the belief that I could handle myself, my money, my schedules, my trips, my apartment upkeep and anything else that came up. This was a belief that I had and my parents had. If my parents had any doubts, they did not show it. If I had any doubts, I called my parents and got the understanding, support, love and help I needed. My mom talked me through any medical and emotional issues and helped me figure out if I need to go to the specialist for my headaches or simply ask for a new kind of migraine medicine. My dad came down and brought tools so we could fix the couch or the toilet, always together with him teaching me how to fix it myself.

I spent a semester abroad in Florence, Italy, knowing no one there before I left, just knowing that I had always wanted to go and was finally going! After my spring semester ended, my sister came over to Europe, met me in Paris and we traveled around Europe together, although I did plenty on my own before and some after. We learned how to navigate the trains, the layout of new cities, how to overcome language barriers and how to live cheaply while still seeing some of the greatest things in the world. Our parents gave us the belief in ourselves and created our independences that enabled us to do that.

I was raised an independent, strong woman who could take on the world.

So why is it that I now ask my husband to fix a handle on the lid of a pot? As he pointed out, I know where the screwdrivers are kept. Why do I nag him about fixing the toilet, when I know what is wrong with it and could easily to go the store to buy the part myself? Why do I put off taking trips places until he can go with me? Why do I wait for him to unpack the car after a trip?

How have I become so helpless??? Or maybe it's pampered...

Toddler on a Train

Things are really crazy at work, and a good night's sleep is still something that exists only in my daydreams. So I'm going to be really slacking this week on posting and reading other blogs. Please know that I feel terrible about both of those things. You must know that I believe the blogging is way more important than both work and sleep, and yet I do occasionally have to prioritize work and sleep (and my family) over the blogs. I beg your pardon in this matter.

In good news, my friend (MommyEm) and her almost 17-month old girl (Dorothy) are definitely coming on vacation with us! I'm so excited! But to get to DC the day before we drive out to the beach, she will be taking a 3-hour train ride... just her and the toddler. She is (understandably) a bit nervous about how the trip will go. She will be leaving about 10:00 AM and getting in about 1:00 PM, and nap time for Dorothy is usually about 12:30, which is going to be iffy considering the excitement of the train and the trip.

Anyone have some good traveling tips for my friend? Especially for the train, which is Amtrak and won't have those seating compartments like they do in Europe. It will have a snack car, so she can probably bring the toddler to run around in there. Anyone have any good ideas? I've only done miserable car trips with no real options for my screaming child, so all I know is what the internet tells me...

Question of the Week - Choose Your Own Adventure

Between seeing Indiana Jones this weekend and reading about moms traveling with their children (A Mother's World: Journeys of the Heart), I'm feeling this pull to be adventurous. Of course, the most adventurous I'll be this week is working my butt off to meet two work deadlines and get us ready to leave for our beach vacation. But I used to be adventurous.

Question of the Week:
What is the most adventurous thing you have done (besides become a parent, because that is craziest adventure of all)?

Mine was skydiving. I really did jump out of a perfectly good airplane! It was in tandem with a pro somewhere down in the Virginia Beach area. It was exhilirating and beautiful and such an adreneline rush!

I also backpacked around Europe, sometimes venturing to places by myself over trains that arrived in the middle of the night to schetchy train stations. And I spent a week on an African island in Tunisia where me and my friend were the only Americans that almost everyone there had ever seen and only other vacationers from Europe spoke any English. But I think the skydiving was really the most adventurous.

How about you? Done anything wild and crazy? Do tell!

It's Not All Bad

Thanks everyone for your support. It really helps so much to just hear the sympathy and understanding (including an awesomely funny phone message from limboland la la!). This is a phase, and we will get through it, both at work and at home.

I am inspired by Cloud of Wandering Scientist (see last paragraph of this post). I am going to try to concentrate on the good and wonderful things that the Pumpkin is doing, as well as the things about work that I'm enjoying. So here are some good things that are going in my life.

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When the Pumpkin reaches for my glasses (which I wear only when my contacts aren't in), she now get a serious look on her face and says sharply "don", which is of course her imitating me saying "don't". Apparently I say that often when she reaches for my glasses. She obviously does not understand what that word means, because she still reaches for the glasses, tears them off my face and then says "eye" as she tries to poke her finger into my eyeball. (How does she know to do this everytime my hands are occupied with something else?)

Instead of getting mad at her coming close to breaking my glasses as she pulls on them, I find her serious face and sharp "don" extremely funny and I burst out laughing every time. Ah well. It's probably time for new glasses anyway.

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Londo is now taking one night a week to put the Pumpkin to bed. We made this agreement a while ago, but I think it's been hard for me to let go of this responsibility. For my sanity, I need to take the break at least one night a week, so I've just got to let go and let him do it. He gave her a bottle to bed last night, and I was able to actually spend that time doing something fun for me.

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Want to know what that something fun was? Yesterday, I finally bought the shelves I talked about a long time ago. I got the drawer base, the cabinet and the cubbies in honey. Last night, I moved the chair from the corner out of the room, set down the drawer base in the corner, and then I put together the cabinet and put it on top of the base. And then... I put away all of the Pumpkin's toys!!! And they all fit in just those, so I can use the cubbies for my cookbooks and other books! Now, instead of the toys overflowing in a corner of the room and a chair in another corner that was just a dumping place for jackets and crap, I've got a beautiful drawer and cabinet that store the Pumpkin's toys in the family room. I'm so happy about that.

And the new couch arrives on Tuesday! As for the other items for the room, I've had to redesign a bit based on the new financial situation. Will try and take pics next week after the couch is in and explain the set up I decided on.

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Did I mention how much I'm looking forward to the get together at the zoo this weekend?

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Having the nanny full time at our house has been working out really well. She is wonderful, and having her at our house has really eased my stress in the mornings. If I'm not ready by the time she gets to our house at 8:00, I can hand over the Pumpkin and finish getting ready on my own.

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A good friend and her daughter (who is a couple months older than the Pumpkin) is very likely going to come to the beach with us on vacation! We own the time share with my parents, so it will be my mom and dad there too. Family, friends, the beach and outlet shopping. Could it get any better???

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I got an award at work. It comes with money. I can now shop the outlets at the beach without feeling guilty. :-)

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I finished my May read for the TBR Challenge: Animals in Translation: Using the Mysteries of Autism to Decode Animal Behavior, By Temple Grandin and Catherine Johnson. It was really good, and I'm hoping to write up my review this weekend.

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The Pumpkin loves to "put things in." So she is picking up stuff from the floor or the alphabet magnets off the fridge and putting them into buckets. Now that I have a good place for her toys, I plan on transitioning her to "put things away." After that, it's only a short jump to dusting and mopping, right?

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So I've got that going for me, which is nice...

From Mansfield Park to Milan

Last night, I finished Mansfield Park, by Jane Austen. As much as I love Austen and usually am very pleased with her endings, I thought the ending of this book kind of fizzled. I know I said yesterday that I didn't know how I wanted it to end, but that was apparently not true. The character who I wanted to like, and was just starting to like, I did not end up liking. Oh, well.

It was very well-written and a great commentary of the time on many issues, including society, education, wealth (or lack of), charity, love and principles. Another really good book by Austen. I personally did not relate to any of the characters. There was no Elizabeth or Jane Bennett for me to love, no Mr. Darcy to make my heart well up. But I can appreciate the book itself and Austen's excellent writing.

This morning*, I started my TBR Challenge book for February: Desiring Italy, edited by Susan Cahill. I've gotten through the Introduction, which explains that this is a collection of writing from some pretty famous women (and only women) about Italy. The point is that the historical women write about Italy in a different way than men historically have. I can't remember exactly how she describes it, but she's sold me on it--something about women's passion for it and their finding sensuality in Italy. I read the Overtures, which is some snippets of writing from authors like Erica Jong and Virgina Woolf who talk about Italy. Finally, I started on the first story, which is about Milan.

Would you like to hear the story behind this book and why it's on my TBR Challenge list? I bought this book a few years ago because I saw it in an airport bookstore while waiting for a plane (this might be a recurring theme for the books in this list, because I used to travel for work a bit and would always pass time in bookstores if there were any in the airport). It's been sitting on my shelf to be read for really no reason, but there are reasons I was drawn to it and bought it.

First, you all must know how much I love Italy. Being of Italian decent, I have always felt a bond for the country and its people. In college, I took italian for 2.5 years, including a semester abroad in Florence. I haven't been back since that semester, over ten years ago, and that makes me want to cry. Londo and I have kicked around the idea of going there on a vacation, and we are currently saving up to attempt this hopefully before we have any more kiddies. When you haven't seen Florence in a while, you get what they call "Duomo-sickness"** like home-sickness except for Florence's Duomo (the dome of the cathedral). I've had it bad for a while.

Second, for a while, I thought I would become a travel writer. I studied Journalism and Mass Communication in grad school, and I truly thought I wanted to work for a travel magazine. That plan didn't work out, and I'm glad it didn't. I couldn't imagine a job that took me away from my husband, baby and home on a regular basis. Travel for work used to sound (and be) so much fun, but now I'm so happy being home that I'm glad my current project doesn't require much traveling. But I still have always loved to read travel articles and books and stories.

Third, I have a high appreciation for women writers. I studied English as an undergrad, and took a few gender studies/literature courses. I like reading things from a woman's perspective. I guess it's cause I can relate. But I especially like to read historical literature by women, because it really gives me an insight into a time period from a woman's perspective, which is too often overlooked by historical books and literature as they are usually written by men from a man's perspective. Oh yeah, and I'm bit of a feminist.

So this book combines all those things that I enjoy. I think I haven't read it yet because I ache to go back, and reading about Italy makes the ache much greater. But since Londo and I have really been talking about going (he's never been), I decided to read this book and another book I have on Italy this year to help inspire me to plan the trip. Hopefully this fall.

As a side note about the book, I actually bought a copy and gave it to my italian Grandma for Christmas this year. She is now 93 and unable to travel all the way over there. She did go just a few years ago with my mom and uncle, but it was hard on her. I hope she is enjoying the book.

Wow, this post ended up being much longer than I had planned. I hope I didn't bore you all to pieces!

*That's right, morning. When the baby nurses for 45 minutes or longer at 6 AM, I actually have time to read in the mornings. It's kind of nice--a relaxing way to start the day and wake up slowly. I used to nurse her lying down and drift back off to sleep, but neither of us can back to sleep these days when she wakes up as late as 6, especially with her fidgeting. So I get to read while she nurses and plays with my hair.

**There is an italian phrase for this, which I can never remember. Perhaps my friend in Italy who reads this knows it and could let me know? She doesn't live in Florence and is not a native speaker, so I'm not sure if she'll know the phrase...