Humbug

We embarked on our first camping trip a couple weekends ago and what I hoped was going to be a ton of fun turned out to be a ton of work. Hubby says I have a "unicorns in the sky" way of thinking and I suppose I do, but come on, can't I look forward to getting away anymore? There were bits of fun interspersed with all of the parenting moments that left me exhausted by the end of of the weekend. Then came Monday, a week of hormones, followed by a cold on Friday, which Maggie caught and has carried on to today.

I need a break.

I've been wondering whether it's worth it to go anywhere besides home with a kiddo this age. Then I think I'm weak sauce compared to the other families we see out there with more than 1 kid.

We subjected our friend Ken to our "family fun". From the looks of it, he doesn't seem to have suffered too much.

He brought dark chocolate covered pretzel bark to share. I think Maggie enjoyed it.

It was nice to spend time with our friends, escape the heat, be in the mountains and smell all of the wonderful alpine smells, and see Maggie have a great time exploring. We heard lots of singing and talking to herself while she puttered around.

Maggie on the go

Michael and Maggie in rigged baby tube

Me knitting (gasp!) during her nap

I admit to liking being in control, making lists to stay organized, and all that jazz, but I also love spontaneity. Travelling with a toddler + spontaneity isn't a great combination. Bummer. So I try to be prepared as I can be but then one thing leads to another and I'm thrown for a loop. My friend Jessie said that she just looks at it this way: she expects the worst and then when the experience isn't the worst, it actually had tidbits of fun and was better than expected, she is pleasantly suprised. Oh jeez!

One thing is for sure. I've hit my 30's and I definitely need a good night's sleep. Maybe it's the fact that I'm a parent to a toddler and need a good night's sleep to keep up with her and not lose my marbles by the end of the day. Either way, I need a functioning aerobed (not one that has such a slow/small leak that you can't find it but by the wee hours of the morning it's 3/4th's deflated but I wait a few more hours trying to get some sleep trying not to move a muscle so that I don't wake the baby and the whole time I really had to pee) or I need a $100 3.5 inch camping thermarest to get me through the next few years of sleeping on the ground. Even better, how about we spring for one of those camping trailers everyone and their mom complains about? Those look just about my style these days. I'm starting to see why people do what they do, no matter how ridiculous it may seem. 10 years ago, I scoffed at so many of these things. Now I'm swallowing my words. You really can't judge until you've lived a day in another persons shoes.

Next time we go camping, I'm bringing new toys. I'm looking for the element of surprise. Bubbles, tonka truck, you get the idea. I'm pre-cooking her food and I'm not going to let her OD on fruit or juice. That only leads to suprise moments at the lake.

In other words, I'm going to be more prepared. See you later spontaneity. Ugh.

Ken wants to plan another camping trip so that makes me think it wasn't that bad but then again, he's not the mom. But it makes me realize I need to loosen up and lower my expectations. I know Michael is smiling right now.