Easter Camping

Yes: we took Ilana AND Moses camping and we hope to camp as a whole family again...someday.
No: we did not get much sleep; we are not crazy, we just kind of enjoy this sort of thing. :)

So, a couple days before Maundy Thursday Paul and I decided to finally try to camp with Ilana. We thought about it this time last year and chickened out. We kind of regretted it then, so we didn't want that experience again. We were given some great advice about camping with a toddler:

1. Don't have an agenda
2. Sleep whenever your toddler sleeps

So, our expectations were pretty low. We planned great, Ilana-friendly meals, went shopping, packed up all our stuff, and a lot extra (how much STUFF does one 20-pound toddler need?!) and headed out. We got to our first campsite in Fredericksburg, TX around 12:30 - yes, just after midnight. That night was alright...all things considered. We woke up the next morning to an exhausted toddler and rain...yeah. :) Thankfully Andrew (a former student we know who lives there) offered us pancakes, sausage and coffee for breakfast. We couldn't turn him down. With our full bellies and warm bodies we headed down to Lost Maples.

We ate some lunch, got packed up, let a now-rested Ilana run around
and hiked in about a mile to our first campsite, it was lovely. We didn't know how long we'd be there so we got comfortable as quickly as possible. Dogs had to be on leash the whole time, and we weren't too far away from the trail, so Moses did a fair amount of hanging out by the tree:
He had so much fun...can't you tell? Our cook site was right next to the tree, so don't worry we got to hang out with him quite a bit (yes, that's his water hanging on the tree). We made and had a great dinner of mac and cheese with beef stick - YUM!!! The sun continued to set while we enjoyed brownie pancakes for dessert. As we were settling in for the night, I noticed the "default" positioning of our dependents and got a bit worried, but what was I going to do?
Little did I know, this would be the case ALL NIGHT. At the time it seemed sweet, but when you are 17 weeks pregnant and already beginning to feel cramped for space, a toddler who wants to share a pillow and a dog who wants to sleep on your lap don't help. None of us got a lot of sleep that night (that's the nice way of putting it). So, once it got light enough outside and we had stalled the waking up process as long as we could, we knew we needed some "emotional pick-me-ups" before we could talk about our plan for the day.
Emotional pick-me-up #1: HOT CHOCOLATE (especially sharing it with Ilana):
Paul thoroughly enjoyed the Starbucks Via we had brought in for him.
Emotional pick-me-up #2: BLUEBERRY PANCAKES (yes, even in the backcountry!):
I've got to tell you, these were THE BEST blueberry pancakes I think I've ever had.

So after thoroughly enjoying our breakfast we decided to not let the lack of sleep defeat us and stay another night. We wanted to try a different sleeping situation to see if it would be any better. Our only "plan" for the day was to go see an interesting rock formation a guide told us about (a 10-minute hike down the trail):
sterilize some water:
enjoy spring:
and while Ilana and I took a nap that afternoon, Paul and Moses hiked out to take back some excess food to the car and get the tarp we had brought "just in case." By the time Ilana woke up from her very short nap, Paul and Moses were back and Paul got busy setting up the tarp he and Moses would sleep under that night.
You can see our tent site, nestled in the trees in the background.
Ilana even tried it out, but decided she wanted to sleep in the tent with me instead.
We made dinner and settled down a lot earlier than the night before. Ilana and I slept fairly well, especially compared to the previous night. However Paul and Moses...didn't get much sleep from what I understand.
So the next morning we had a quick breakfast, got packed up, and hiked the mile back to our car. Moses slept through lunch,
our poor scrubby child Ilana ate well,
and got all cleaned up
just in time for us to head back home. Needless to say, there was a fair amount of sleeping going on in the car on the way home (by everyone except the driver of course!).

It was an experience, that's for sure. The craziest part about it all is that when Paul and I look back on the whole experience we have great memories and who wouldn't with pictures like this?!
-H & P