Camping

This weekend we went on our first camping trip as a family and I am happy to say it was a success! Troy got us a new 6 person tent on sale from REI and we dug out all our old camping equipment from more than 4 years ago (our last camping adventure was in Yellowstone moving from CA to MN the summer of 2006!) We packed everything up on Friday evening after the kids went to bed and arose at 5am on Saturday, left by 530 to get to Rocky Mountain National Park camp ground a little after 7am. The first-come first-serve campsites fill up very quickly on Saturdays because many people get a spot early on Friday and keep it. So we had to have our names on the list before 7:30am. We got a spot shortly after 8 - a great one with shade, which is hard to come by because of the pine beetle infestation that has killed all the pines in the park. Troy set up our new tent, with Thayden's help of course.
Thayden checking out our campsite bright and early Saturday morning.

Sierra hanging out in her warm fleece happy as a clam while we set up camp.

Setting up the tent, with plenty of "help" from Thayden

Thayden inside the tent for the first time - excited as can be :)

Next we headed out to do some hiking. There are so many hiking trails in the park so we just picked one close by our campground and started off on the 2.5 mile trek to Cub Lake. It was a beautiful hike with plenty of rocks for Thayden to climb. Such gorgeous weather we had!
Our first hike of the trip.
Thayden did plenty of rock climbing.


We were in search of the perfect picnic spot (just like in the Berenstain Bears book) and we had quite the time. The first spot wouldn't do, the rock was right in the sun and it was too pointy. The next spot looked like a good one, but when Troy went to sit down he stepped in a hidden ant house and was immediately covered from the chins down in creepy crawly 3-bodied black critters, so we moved on. The last spot was a nice rock in the shade without and ant farms and we were finally able to finish our sandwiches.
Well...almost. Then this little guy decided he wanted to join us. And he was persistent. He came right up to us and kicked us off out of our perfect picnic spot...all for a couple of crumbs.

We turned around about 1.5 miles in. 1.5 miles doesn't seem like a lot but with Thayden taking numerous detours it had taken us 1.5 hours to travel that distance and Sierra was going to get hungry soon, so we hiked back. I do think the whole hike to the lake will be do-able the next time if we come prepared.

Thayden was wiped and fell asleep in the carseat before we got a 1/2 mile down the road. We went in to Estes Park to keep him sleeping and to pick up a couple of things we forgot to pack at the grocery store. We also stopped at a hiking store and rented a backpack for Troy to carry Thayden in so we could try it out and see if we want to purchase one. So when we got back to our campsite, we decided we better go for another hike to try it out. It was a hit! We're going to do a little more research but we're pretty sure it will be a good investment - for Thayden now and Sierra in the future because she will get too big for the Baby Bjorn all too soon and we plan to do lots of hiking in the next 3 years!
Sierra chillaxin on our bed in the tent between hikes.

Troy with the backpack carrier on.

Thayden in the backpack carrier on hike #2.

Our total hiking distance for Day 1 (with me carrying Sierra in the Baby Bjorn and Troy carrying the backpack and/or Thayden): over 5 miles

Sierra and mommy loving hiking in the mountains.

We made it back to the campsite pretty tuckered out, and hungry. We started a fire and made pizza pies (the best part of camping) and Sierra had to get a taste of the campfire cooked food too (we heated her bottles over the fire.) :) We went to the campground amphitheater presentation on Ravens and when we got back to the tent we all gladly crawled under the covers and went to sleep.
Sierra in her adorable bear PJ's.
Thayden eating some camping grub (actually, he mostly ate goldfish and an ice cream treat but oh well.)

The kids both slept well although Troy and I were up often. Sierra even slept in until 6 and waited for her bottle until 6:45! Such a good camper! Thayden slept for another hour before he got up and devoured some breakfast. We cleaned up camp and checked out to go on our final hike of the weekend - we settled on a short one since both Troy and I were feeling the effects of our previous day's expedition in addition to our restless night.

We got about .1 miles in and Thayden says "Mommy I got to go poopy." So we went back to the trailhead for to the outhouses for him to do his business and set off for try #2.

Another beautiful hike with lots of wildflowers in the meadow and by noon we were back in our car heading to Estes for some lunch (fresh trout) on our way home! There will be more camping and hiking to come!
Total hiking distance for Day 2: a little over 1 mile
Thayden is all smiles about camping :D