well, we finally went camping friday night, and it was good. let me qualify “good”: we got some sleep, the amount varying for each one of us (seb probably got the most), we only woke the campground once at 5 am, and it was character building–we learned a lot. most important lesson, try to arrive at the campground BEFORE your child’s bedtime–not during, or for crying outloud, after. due to some logistical difficulties, we pulled into the campground at 9:30p and were set up by 10p. seb had fallen asleep in the car, his bedtime normally around 8p, and really didn’t like being awakened to a very strange, dark and chilly place with flickering lights and voices of unseen multitudes. so it was hard to get him to sleep, although not impossible. once i did get him to sleep, it was awkward keeping him situated on his sleeping pad. throughout the night, seb’s head kept sliding onto the tent-floor from his sleeping pad due to a slight dip in the ground, and i had to keep pulling him back to a better spot. even i found myself crammed into the corner on more than one occasion. anyway, he awoke for a brief (at the time it seemed like he was crying forever) period around 5a, but went back to sleep until 7:30a, so it definitely could have been worse. only two times did i imagine hearing someone grumble “baby” that morning before we left, and more than likely it was from the group of drinkers who stayed up until 4a. oh well.

so i think we’ll do it again. maybe even soon and somewhere a little further away from home.

Posted on June 1st, 2004