Camping with a Baby.

We have talked about going camping with our good friends Jesse and Katie for the last few years. We finally decided to just pick a date and do it. We planned the trip at the beginning of the year. I figured that Zara would be about 13 months old and that she would be walking or very close to it. Well, she has been taking her sweet sweet time in that department and was not even close to walking when we went camping. That made it a very interesting trip for me since all she wanted to do was get down and crawl and all I wanted to do was keep her out of the dirt and grossness. Somehow we survived the trip w/ a baby in tow! We have great friends who sacrificed two nights of sleep for a crazy baby! We did have a really fun time and Kitana is thrilled to finally have gone camping. We took Kitana camping when she was a bit younger than Zara and she was just perfect, so I thought it would be a similar experience. Kitana really is a breed of her own :) 

Katie is amazing and helped out a lot with the girls. She even bought them little toys and goodies to play with. 

Playing a little catch at the campsite. You can see a little of our new tent in the background that we purchased for our bigger family.

She is so happy to be camping!!!

Let the fight begin! She really did have fun, but it was just hard trying to keep her entertained since she couldn't get down. She was also low on sleep and was taking mini naps, so an over tired girl was also in the mix. The first night she cried for a few hours and then slept pretty well after that. The second night she went to bed perfectly and then was up pretty much through the whole night. She wasn't crying though. She would stand up, sit down, and then clap for herself! We just tried to ignore her, it was kinda funny though! But not funny at all since we were soooo tired :(

Paul whittled this stick for her and she had so much fun digging in the dirt with it while sitting in Kitana's chair. Kitana was such a nice sharing sister :)

We enjoyed yummy campfire snacks both nights. That's the best part about camping! Kitana even got to stay up late and enjoy them with us. She had so much fun looking at the stars and playing with Jesse's flashlight.

Spent the day at the lake. Kitana totally photo-bombed this picture! Too funny.

This is her favorite part about the lake or the ocean...she can just go pee in it and it doesn't have to interrupt her playing time. The water even looks pee colored, gross! This water actually stained all our swimsuits. I had to use major stain remover and wash several times.

Kitana's first time on a sea-doo makes for one nervous mama!

Love her crazy, tired camping face. Paul made a gun with this piece of wood and Kitana enjoyed playing with it. 

The stroller became Zara's best friend on this trip, even though she still wouldn't fall asleep in it. She would whine to go in it and enjoyed blankie/thumb time. We got lucky and managed to go camping on the 2 coolest days in July. It was such a fun trip and we look forward to going again w/ Jesse and Katie if they'll have us! I am giving Zara another year though to grow up a bit before I'll take her again :)