Camping Trip: West Virginia 2010

Jack & I love camping. So why not take our 2.5 year old and 8 month old boys on a 4 day, 3 night camping trip? Sounds like a great idea, right?! haha. Oh, what novice, rookie parents we are! When the kids are this young, it's just constant work -- planning & prepping meals, cleaning & preparing bottles, giving baths, going potty, and sticking to naps and bedtime. However, the boys LOVED being outdoors -- Colin found sticks to use as guitars, and Justin found leaves to wave in the air.

Some highlights (and lowlights):

• We survived the 6 hour drive to West Virginia...in Jack's truck!!! Yay, us.
  
• Trip attendees: Chris & Evelyn, Ben (who is now taller than me), Rylee (who is awesome with kids), Mitch (who is blonde and adorable), Pete, Nick, Natalie, and us. Family time = wonderfulness!
• The Elwell boys rafted the upper Gauley (Chris, Pete, Nick & Jack).
  
• I tested out the OFF clip on mosquito repellent fan, mosquito patches, bug wipes, and bug spray. After all of that, I still have 31 mosquito bites (yes, I actually counted them.) I'm grumpy and still itchy. Bee suit, anyone?
  
• Justin slept great 2 out of 3 nights. On the last night, he woke up every 2-3 hours. Enough said. Colin slept in Aunt Natalie's tent for 2 nights. And Rylee read Colin his bedtime books one night. THANK YOU!
• Colin swam in the river, saw a train, and ate snacks for b, l & d. He loved his trip. Justin crawled in dirt, preferred leaves over sticks, and loved extra cousin time. Cleaning bottles while camping = pain in the butt!
  
• Jack taught Colin how to pee on a tree. So if Colin had to pee, he would walk up to a tree, pull down his pants, arch back, and aim. And he told me, "If I have to poo, I'll tell you and we'll go to the bathroom. Only animals poo outside, mommy. People poo in the bathroom."

Not sure if I would recommend camping with an 8 month old and a 2.5 yr old for anyone. We barely survived and not sure if I would do it again anytime soon! Lesson learned: Camping is so much more fun when someone else does all of the planning and work. (Thanks mom & dad for all of the years of camping we did as a family. If I knew what I know now, I would have helped out more. Sorry.) All in all, it was a good time, and it is a great family memory for us. =)