Ridge's First Camping Trip

Over the weekend our new family of five went camping. Three days. Two nights. Ridge was one month old. Now taking a newborn camping is kind of crazy, but it's actually not. They don't know they're camping. They just keep on doing their newborn thing=not much. 

Burl and Fern regularly talked about taking Ridge camping-they were eager to introduce him to our favorite family adventure. Since we had to sit out of camping for a while because I don't do pregnant camping well, we were all itching to get back out there. 

We've had a lot of questions about how it went, so here's the low down: Ridge was easy. He and I slept in one tent and the John, Burl, and Fern in another tent. The only problem was that all his baby noises sort-of kept me awake at night, but no one gets a good night's sleep while camping. Other than that, Ridge was very easy. He was like most babies and was even more chill while being outside. He was a breeze. 

see the deer that the kids tried to chase?  

The kids also enjoyed being outside all weekend. Burl didn't wear a shirt for almost 24 hours straight, and that is reason enough to go camping. He's so cute. Fern just sassed her way around the campsite. We were all sweaty, dirty, exhausted, and happy. 

Routine visit from Pops, whose farm is very close to Fall Creek Falls

We weren't able to explore as much as we usually do, because nursing/diapers/exhausted. We were hoping to swim in the swimming hole, hike to the bottom of the tallest waterfall east of the Mississippi, and go canoeing. Cue the laughter. Those things didn't happen, but we did what we could. We were able to play in the creek and do some hiking, but our exploring was drastically different. At one point we decided to get ice cream at the general store and drive the loop that had good views. 

Even though the trip didn't look like we thought it would, we still had a great time and made good memories. While we were there, I had to once again process my life (because I can't have a good time and just leave well enough alone). This is the first time that I've got to be part of a family that is intact. When we do cool, normal family things like camping, I have to pause and slow down so I can take in all the good feelings that come with happy times. They come rushing at me. Take a newborn camping? Heck yes I will because nothing about this is hard. This life is all so good and I'll enjoy it the way that I can.