Who likes camping anyways?

The expedition was supposed to start last Friday when Chris would get home early and we would head for the hills. I had secured a camp site right outside of Morrison, we would order some sandwiches to go, poke around the town, and enjoy our pop-up set up. It was supposed to be great.

Now, I could write about how Chris didn't get home till 6pm. Or how I broke the pop up when I was trying to check it. Or how Chris had to spend half of Saturday fixing the pop up before we could ever go. Or how the campsite turned out to be almost two hours from Morrison. Or how when we got to the campground, our spot had been given away (they thankfully still had ONE site in the entire place). Or how we got set up just in time to let Austin explore a couple minutes, eat some sandwiches, and go to bed. But, instead, I could just post these pictures:

....and you'll know that we actually had a great time.

Friday night, our unexpected night at home, was Austin's first time sleeping through the night. Do you understand that? FIRST TIME. That means my head rested on my pillow from 10PM until 6AM for the first time since LAST APRIL. Tears come to my eyes just thinking about it. I really don't think it can be understood just how tired a person can be until you are woken every single night for an extended amount of time. Thankfully babies are so cute and can smile at you so you don't feel so angry, but DAMN. That felt good. By 11am with a still broken pop up sitting in our driveway, I was convinced it would be better to go on a picnic and come home to encourage this new night time routine. We headed out anyways. Camping did not help him. Instead, we were up on an hourly basis starting at 11:30PM, but really, in the end (and after some coffee) it was all worth it. Watching Austin wake up in a sleeping bag was pretty hysterical and his wonderment with the dirt and weeds didn't get old.

We got to go for a morning hike, baby on back and coffee in hands. It was amazingly pretty where we were. Chris and Austin went for a long bike ride and I got to enjoy a run where I didn't see one single other person, or listen to a car the entire time. The sun was hot, and Austin's blankets called me to lie on them and soak up the rays. On the way home we stopped at Tiny Town and let Austin crawl around the itty bitty buildings and went for a little train ride.

I am still convinced that camping is designed for those that are all in all well rested. It makes staying up by a camp fire much more fun knowing that if you miss some Zzzz's on this trip, you'll soon catch up. But, the question I had been grumbling along, "Who likes this shit anyways?" was answered by me, "I do."