Over Memorial Day weekend, Simeon and I took Ana on her very first camping trip. We decided to go to Ft. Stevens because if anything went wrong we could always toss the baby in the car and drive the ten minutes to my mother’s house. We figured this would be a nice “trial run” to see how we would fair camping with an infant.

As we were driving to our campsite it started to sprinkle but only really rained once–just as we started to prepare the mandatory camping dinner of hot dogs and s’mores. My mother, always worried that babies will freeze to death, found some child size gloves in her car and put them on Ana. While she looked ridiculous, they were good for several laughs and kept Ana entertained for the longest time. She just stared, mesmerized by her hands, occasionally wiggling her fingers. It was so funny.

All of the camping Simeon and I have done in recent years has been in Eastern Oregon and lets just say the climate over there is much, MUCH warmer than the Oregon Coast. Always the over-packer in the baby department, we had several layers and blankets on Ana so she was delightfully warm and bundled at every moment. Her parents? Not so much.

When camping, we sleep on an air mattress, so I packed sheets, a heavy quilt and a fluffy comforter. I was thinking Sim could have one and I the other so we wouldn’t be fighting over blankets (how quickly one gets use to their king size bed at home). After literally freezing my butt off for hours I finally woke up Sim to see how we could make things better. We ended up putting the comforter under us and huddling under the quilt. I am not normally a cuddly sleeper, but you better believe I was clinging to my heater of a husband to stay warm. Next time we know to pack a wool blanket to put under our sheet.

But aside from the little bit of rain and cold sleeping conditions, we really had a great time. Ana was a trooper and just soaked up the whole experience like a sponge. And now that we know we can camp at the coast, I am totally ready for desert camping. Bring it on, baby!
You can see all the pictures from our trip here. Enjoy.