Josie's First Camping Trip

(this carrier became our saving grace during naps and bedtime. Nothing like babywearing to calm a fussy baby)

This past weekend, we loaded our car to capacity(literally) and headed to Kettle Moraine State Park! This was Josie's first official camping trip and she did AWESOME. She loves being outside, so she was just as happy as could be.

 (just chillin' in her super fantastic Mr. Fox chair)

I'm pretty sure I'm the only one out of the three of us that got eaten alive by buggies: I have over 20 bites on my legs alone..and yes, I wore bug spray ALL DAY, every day. It's just the price I pay for being so darn sweet. Ha ha ha..not.

(isn't she just the cutest little "tough guy" you've ever seen?!)

We arrived around 1pm on Friday afternoon; set up camp, then wandered around for a bit.

(Oleson Pioneer Cabin in Kettle Moraine)

Saturday we  checked out some awesome pioneer cabins (one was an actual restored cabin from the 1840's...really really interesting). We also did a short trek on a glacial nature trail. Had it not been SOO hot and muggy we most likely would've done a longer hike. We packed everything up and headed home Sunday afternoon....just as the impossibly warm weather started to get hotter (85° and muggy by 9am...with no breeze what so ever..no thank you).

This small camping trip was a test-run for our week long camping trip in September that we'll be taking with our dear friends The Prochazkas! I am so happy that this little getaway was such a big success (minus the fact that I forgot to pack pillows...ha ha..Oops! Luckily, there was a target a few miles from where our campsite was. We needed some spare pillows anyway).

One thing is for sure: We will NOT be using the air mattress again. 3 VERY hot bodies smushed together at night = me waking up miserable and almost having a meltdown when we couldn't find the maple syrup. Seriously, every time I moved in the middle of the night I would inevitably wake up Josie and then I had a crying baby to deal with in the middle of the night..uh, no good. Next time we will bring the cot and sleeping pad (Tim will sleep on the cot and JBird and I will sleep on the floor on the sleep pad).

In reality, we need a bigger tent. That'll be our big purchase next year for sure! (and when I say bigger I don't just mean can *fit* more people, I mean taller! Having to constantly crouch over made me super sore!)

This was not only Josie's first camping trip BUT our first little vacation as a family!

Hooray for camping!

(hiking is exhausting)