A Camping We Will Go

We took Rowan on his first camping trip this weekend and I am very pleased to announce that it was a huge success. Yes, he ate a lot of dirt. Yes, I spent an emormous amout of time chasing him and saying "no Rowan". And yes, I scratched many holes in to my head worrying about how each day would be. But, my worrying was all in vain. We survived. More than that, we had a lot of fun. 

The trip started off on the wrong foot. I realized when we picked Rowan up, car full of gear and dog- that I had neglected to get the sticker renewed for my license plate. Normally this wouldn't be a big deal, but I had to get a drive clean test in order to get the sticker and that wasn't something I thought we could organize at 4pm on a Friday afternoon. I was wrong. I also managed to find the insurance slip that was missing in my car. It turns out I have been driving without proof of insurance since May. Everything lined up for us and somehow we got the test, had all the papers, got Rowan fed and were back on the road by 5:30pm. 

The drive was a breeze. Silver Lake Provincial Park is only about 1.5 hours from Ottawa and Rowan remained in a decent mood for the trip. When we arrived, we put up the tent, got the baby in to his PJs and he was fast asleep (after about 15 minutes of complaining alone in the tent) by 8:30pm. I couldn't believe it! We did discover once the sun went down that our parking lights wouldn't go off. We pulled a fuse in order to save the battery power and went to bed ourselves. Surprisingly, we slept in and got up to have the most fantastic pancakes with blueberries and whip cream (which by the way, Rowan loves. He goes beserk if he sees blueberries in the refrigerator at his Day Care and he complains until Amanda gives them to him. The added whip cream caused him to "oooh and ahhh" over dessert last night which is fine by me because feeding him right now is a nightmare at the best of times.) 

Saturday flew by. We didn't really do very much but we did get a little swim in. Or, I should say, Rowan got a swim in. Daddy and I just watched. We took his clothes off when he showed an interest in taking a dip and he went bare naked. It was the highlight of the weekend. Watching him walk out into the water while holding Daddy's hand is an image that etched itself in my mind. I am sure you'll understand why when you see the photos we took of the moment.

I think that an early fall camping trip will become a tradition in our house. It's a perfect time of year to venture out because the bugs are long gone, and the weather is still toasty warm during the day but cool at night for sleeping. Of course for this to become a tradition we are going to need a bigger vehicle. Our subaru was loaded down and there was definitely not an inch of space for a second child in the back seat. Next year is going to be very interesting, and undoubtedly, a monster amount of fun. Albeit cramped.