Camping . . . with a Two Year Old . . . While 7 Months Pregnant

Our site. If you look closely through the trees you can see the lake behind us.

Does the title scare you? It shouldn't. I so have to admit that there were certain things that I was nervous about when thinking about heading out to camp this time around. One being Peachy and the other being my comfort. However, a camping we went and I am really glad that we did it. 

On our way out of town I realized I had forgotten to pack Peachy's toys for playing outside.

We loaded up the van Saturday morning and headed to a state park pretty much all the way across the state. (And when  I say loaded, I am not kidding! I think we took half the house with us. I would never be able to be a back pack camper.) We arrived at the park to be greeted by lots of huge fly/bee creatures pining against our car. I made Mr. Wonderful go in and register. Turns out that they weren't anything to worry about, but they sure did provide a scary welcome.

We stopped at Target and I raided the Dollar Spot. I got the bucket and a three pack of shovels and rakes that kept her entertained for hours.

We made it to our site and started setting up the camp. This time that included a screen tent in addition to our regular tent. We had been told that the bugs were really bad this year and that was no lie. Thankfully they were much worse on the trails than at the site, but the screen tent made a nice addition anyway. Speaking of bugs, poor Peachy came away with over 15 mosquito bites. She got pretty good at swatting them away by the end. The ticks were also out in full force. One decided to try to suck the blood on my stomach and another somehow made it home with us and through the washer and dryer. Yikes!

I also picked up this plastic golf set at Target.

Peachy never does really well sleeping when we go camping and this year proved much the same. Naps were very hard to come by although much needed with late bedtimes and early risings. I am so thankful that she goes down so well at home and doesn't normally wake up at 5 am. I, however, slept much better than I had anticipated. We used a foam mattress cover over the air mattress and I think that really helped to make both Mr. cherry and I a lot more comfortable.

Who knew that it could also be guitars, an ax, and violins???

While the forecast looked great when we headed out, we ended up with lots of rain and gloomy days. We used the rain as an excuse to hunker down in our tent and just relax as a family. One rainy afternoon we actually all were able to take naps. Of course Tuesday, the day we were packing up and driving home, ended up being a beautiful day. At least it made for easy take down and airing out when we got home.
So despite a two year old with a touchy sleep schedule, being 7 months pregnant, lots of bugs, and rainy weather, I give camping a big thumbs up!

Having fun hanging out in the tent.

Oh, and we inadvertently ended up feeding a raccoon one night. He somehow got into the screen tent and into one of our food bags twice. We heard the bag the first time and just assumed it had fallen over. When we heard it again, we knew something was out there. I went out to retrieve the bags and secure them in our van. (Where they should have been the entire time.) After taking stock in the morning, we found a partial bag of hot dog buns missing in addition to some chocolate cookies. Mr. Cherry found the remains of the hot dog bun bag in the woods a short distance from our site. You would think that as experienced campers we would know better!

Rest time in the tent.