"Camping is fun!"

Yes, those were Eli's actual words! :) We took Eli on his first camping trip last weekend. I know, I know, that's crazy considering that he's two, and that before he came along we went camping at least a couple of times each summer. We simply hadn't made the decision to try this new adventure with him yet. Fortunately Ryan had the brilliant foresight to do a practice run in the backyard first. The first hurdle was figuring out where Eli would sleep now that he's too big for a pack & play. I have to say, we came up with a great solution! Eli has a little toddler-size tent and sleeping bag that we picked up at a garage sale. Until now it has just been for play, but it has become a great substitute for the pack & play! We borrowed a huge tent from our friends Jessie and Steven that we could actually fit Eli's tent into with plenty of room left over for oursevles. So we set up camp in the backyard last Wednesday, put Eli's blankets and animals into the tent, then made a really big deal about how fun and exciting it is to camp and sleep in a tent. Well, maybe we made too big a deal of it, because Eli was so excited that it took him two hours to fall asleep that night! Every time one of us moved Eli would pop up and excitedly tell us "I'm in the tent!" :) He did finally settle down, though, and the practice run paid off during the real camping trip - he was asleep within ten minutes of us putting him to bed, despite our very noisy neighbors and the incredibly loud fireworks display from the casino a few miles away! Anyway, we got to Ocean City State Park and set up camp on Friday afternoon. As soon as we were set up, we headed down to the beach. It was great weather for it; sunny and just warm enough. Eli, of course, had a great time digging in the sand. Despite the cold water we all waded in a little bit. After playing for awhile we headed back to our campsite to make dinner and wait for our friends Myles, Emily, and Simon to arrive. Eli thought it was pretty cool that Dada was making a fire in our campsite, and he was quite happy to sit by the fire in his very own camp chair! He did get a little bored and decided that since we hadn't brought his blocks along, he'd have to make do with what was available...Hmmm...yet another strike against me in the race for "Mom of the Year" :) Myles, Emily, and Simon arrived later, and we had a great time sitting around the campfire talking and making s'mores. Eli woke up very briefly twice during the night, but otherwise slept great and was in a great mood in the morning. Unfortunately it started raining at about 2 a.m., and though it wasn't heavy rain, it didn't let up. We held out as long as we could, made breakfast at camp (check out Myles and Emily's very handy pancakes in a can!) and hung out around the campfire for awhile longer, but in the end it just wasn't worth spending the rest of the weekend cold and wet! Though it was a short campout, it was worth the trip, and fun while it lasted. As you may have noticed, the first and last photos here are compliments of Emily. The top one was taken from across the campfire, and I love the smoky look of it. I love this one below for obvious reasons...It sure is a blessing to have a wonderful friend who's also a wonderful photographer! Thanks Emily - and thanks for all the work you put into planning a great camping trip!