Camping: Take One

We have been planning on taking a family camping trip to Virginia Beach in the fall.  Before we finalized our vacation, we decided we needed a trial run.  Camping with Grady was a little less than successful.

We chose a camp ground in the Shenandoah National Park, a short 45 minute drive from our house.  The site we reserved wasn't optimal for a family with a toddler.  The road was accessible in two different locations. I spent a lot of time chasing after Grady to make sure he didn't run into the road.

Once we had out tent up and our chairs out, Grady relaxed while enjoying a snack.  Then we went on a short hike.  We walked along some of the Appalachian Trail and saw tons of blackberry bushes.

Grady rode in the backpack.  The hike wore him out, so he took a little nap on the way back to our camp site.

Once back at our tent, we explored the area.  Grady liked running in and out of the tent.  To keep the little guy entertained we got out the ice cream maker ball.  He loved rolling it around.  Once you put all the ice and stuff in, the ball gets pretty heavy.  After dinner, we enjoyed eating fresh, homemade mint chocolate chip ice cream.  Grady loved it and kept asking for "mo."

Then it was Grady's bedtime.  That's when the camping fun ended.  He didn't want to go to bed and he let us know it...for over an hour.  Grady cried and complained.  Then he'd pause and say "momma." Then he'd complain some more. Then "dadda." More complaining. "Elmo." more complaining. "Wawa."  Yea right kid, your not thirsty.  Good tactic tho, I'm impressed.  Finally, sometime after 8:30pm he fell asleep.  

Taylor and I enjoyed a s'more and read by the camp fire.  We quietly climbed into bed as to not wake Grady.  Success!  Then about an hour later Grady wakes up crying.  He wouldn't calm down so we let him sleep on the air mattress with us.  He went back to sleep fairly quickly.  But...then he woke up around 2am and wanted to play.  He was all over the place. He'd pop his head up, then I'd tell him to lay down and he'd lay back down, then pop back up.  I'm not sure how long this lasted, at least an hour, maybe more.  Next thing I know, I'm waking up to birds chirping.  I opened my eyes to see the sweet face of my baby boy sleeping with his head on my pillow.  Maybe we need a few more practice runs before we try to go too far from home.

I snapped this photo on the way back home.  You can just barely see the Shenandoah Valley behind the mountains.