Jacob's maiden camping voyage

I'm backlogged by about a month and a half which means you'll be seeing pictures of Hannah in her three-headed dragon Halloween costume at the height of the Christmas season unless I kick it into gear.

Eric was supposed to be gone for the month of October so I spent September filling the calendar with activities. The first weekend was going to be a ladies and babies camping extravaganza with the us, Mary Cate, and Amy, Zoey, and Nelso. I was terrified of taking Hannah camping for her first 2 years of life given how prone she was to choosing screams over sleep (I wasn't willing to do anything that might make life any more stressful or sleepless than it already was), but when we finally did take her on her first trip, she did great. Eric took her a couple more times last summer while I graded papers for a class I was teaching, but having a new baby this summer meant the tent stayed folded up in the garage.

I didn't want to have another 2 years pass before we dusted off the tent. Like going to the grocery store, once you've done it a few times with kids, you figure out your routine and it stops being daunting. The trick is to get the first few times over with as quickly as possible so you can figure out what to never do again. That's how you earn your mama badges; you just screw up royally a few times until you figure out and graduate into "seasoned" status.

Unfortunately, it wasn't just that I had to learn how to camp with kids. I had to re-learn how to camp. Eric and I camped in Zion for close to a week shortly before we got pregnant, and I'd like to add that this trip included a 2-day backpacking adventure in The Narrows. This is my one and only hardcore camping moment, but aside from the fact that I hiked that river for 2 days in spite of the knife stabbing pain in my severely infected toe, I was not at all hardcore. In fact, I was the anti-hardcore. This is my second-most embarrassing lifetime moment: when it got dark, I was afraid to leave the tent. I huddled up in the sleeping bag with my infected toe and my fatigued body and let my mind imagine wild animals with sharp teeth and no one around for miles and miles and miles and this city girl pretty much freaked out. Yes, I am afraid of the real dark. Sure, I keep my bedroom as dark as possible with as many shades drawn as I can fit on the window, but that's because no matter what you do, real dark does not exist in the city. 

Other than Zion, the vast majority of the camping I have done in my life was at music festivals throughout my teen years and early to mid 20s, and although I had my own tent and gear and could set up and tear down and fend for myself, that was a lifetime ago and my trusty tent is MIA.

So not only do I not have a parent-child camping routine, but I also don't have my own individual routine as a starting base. Therein was the reason for my apprehension.

Eric has two tents. One is a two-person tent that fits me and Hannah fine but not the baby (we set it up in the dining room to check), and the other is this enormous 15-person castle that is totally intimidating, and that I am totally not interested in learning to set up.

The thing about me is that I don't like to be intimidated and apprehensive. The ideal me takes the kids camping on the regular and is an EXPERT, so when my neighbors suggested a camping trip, I jumped at the opportunity to start establishing my parent-child camping routine. I blocked off that weekend on the calendar and started shopping for a more manageable tent, one I could have ownership of and could confidently set up and tear down by myself like I did in my 20s. I loved that sense of independence, and I want it back.

I never found the tent though. Eric wanted me to get something that the whole family could still use for years to come and all of those are big and expensive which totally defeated the purpose of getting a new one, and then Eric's trip ended up being postponed so we invited the guys on our ladies and babies camping trip, and he set up the castle. And also the "kitchen" (aka, the screen tent). And voila: our Gucci campsite.

The neighbors usually go to Green Ridge, but I wasn't feeling that brave. It's 2 hours from here (127 miles), and although Jacob does pretty well in the car, that's a lot of time to spend in the car for 1 night. Plus, I needed to know that if it got crazy, I could bail and just go home easily enough. I wanted to leave myself that out. Also, and I'm a little ashamed to admit this, though no more so than admitting that I'm afraid of the dark and spent my night in the Narrows hiding in a tent instead of looking at the stars, but I'm on a roll so I'll also admit that I am just not in a place in my life right now where I'm okay with willingly walking into a situation in which I have to poop in the woods. If it has to be done, fine, but I don't want to sign up for it. I need to build back up to that status. In the meantime, I want to cheat and camp at places that have bath houses. I wanted to know that running water was an option should anyone decide to roll in mud or have the kind of explosive poop that finds its way out of all diapers.

As it turns out, there are a ton of state parks within an hour of our house, all of which I intend to explore. It'd be cool if as a teenager, Hannah knew all the area state parks like the back of her hand, like they were her neighborhood her something. For our maiden voyage, we ended up at Elk Neck State Park which is on the water just south of the Delaware line about an hour and 15 minutes from here.

Our campsites were perfect because they were right next to each other and not separated by trees or anything. It would have sucked if we didn't know each other, but it was perfect for our purposes.

We got all set up and then Eric and Hannah chilled by the fire while Amy and I took the little ones on a hike.

Night with Hannah was awesome. We hung out by the bath house for a while watching the billions of tiny frogs jumping around and caught a few to bring back to the campsite. We watched a little reptile of some sort peek his head out of a crack in the sidewalk there and smell the air with his tongue. We turned off our flashlights on the darkest part of the trail where we couldn't see either the bath house or our camp site and spooked ourselves. We counted stars and taught her how to wish on them. We watched the fire flicker and licked s'mores from our fingers. I got lots of much needed quality time with her.

She played with her brother in the hammock the next morning.

And drank blueberry Odwalla by the morning fire. 

And shared sparklers with Zoey until the campsite was full of smoke and smelled terrible.

I hung out in my pjs while the baby took his morning nap and got in some much-need laughter with MC.

When the baby woke up, we started breaking down and packing up. Hannah entertained herself by hopping on this pair of trees like they were a pair of skies.

We pulled out lunch before leaving. I spent a lot of time cooking before our trip to Assateague, and it was great, but I didn't want to do that again, so I cheated and went to Whole Foods to stock up on sandwiches and snacks and even some superfood instant oatmeal. It was great. I'm not usually one to cut corners, but I've been trying it out lately, and as it turns out, it hasn't killed me to lower the expectations I have of myself a little bit.

After lunch, we packed up the cars and headed to the trail that circled the pond. The write-up in the brochure made it sound scenic, and it was only supposed to be about a mile loop. I'm pretty sure it was a lot farther than that, and the pond was hidden behind trees and foliage pretty much the whole time, but it was nice anyway. Amy had lost her keys so we took Nelson and our kids and got a head start on the trail while her and MC and John returned to the campsite to dig around. We took a turn off the path at one point, walking toward the pond, and I let out the slack on Nelson's leash so he could run. When I caught up to him, he was swimming. Moments like that make me look forward to the day that we have a dog and can take him hiking.

These next two top my favorites list. I love it when I capture my crazy family being crazy.

Jacob passed out in what could not have been a comfortable position. I feel bad for not protecting his sleep as much as I protected Hannah's, especially since he actually likes to sleep and really loves to lay down in his bed and snooze away....

John worked up a sweat practicing his soon-to-be daddy skills by toting Zoey around.

After our hike, I insisted on seeing the beach before heading back to the city. I waded in mid-thigh, but Hannah and Eric put on their suits and swam out, rinsing off the sweat and dirt from our hike...it must have been so refreshing...I should have put on my suit...

We drove home feeling a billion times better. Eric said he'd heard a show on the radio about how there is a science behind needing to be outside in nature. I can't remember what he said, but it was something about a charge, a positive charge that you get only by being in nature, and you really get off kilter without it. I think that's obvious based on my own personal experiences and on how much better I feel after getting outside and away from the concrete jungle for a while, and I'm guessing that it's something the majority of the world agrees with, but even with that common sense knowledge, I still learning the science behind it is fascinating. Eric said that someone made a bracelet that is purported to provide that same positive charge (or whatever--I can't remember his terminology), and if that's the case, I think they should pass them out like candy on Halloween to all city dwellers, especially those who don't have the means to escape.

I'm so grateful that we have the means to to escape. We love walking around our 'hood, but it is critical to our mental health to get out of there on a regular basis. Our maiden camping voyage with Jacob was a success, and I'm looking forward to the next trip! 

Daddy, daughter, and neighbors go camping

I finally talked Eric into guest blogging about his camping trip with Hannah and the neighbors in western Maryland (I think Green Ridge State Park???). I'm obsessed with chronological order so I'm holding all the posts until this one gets covered, and, as usual, I am incredibly back logged on the posting. This was the same weekend as HonFest so...second weekend in June I think? I stayed home and worked on my class the ENTIRE time. I got a lot done, and it was kind of neat to be alone in the house...It's been about 3 years since that's happened. It was a little freaky though because the neighbors on both sides of us went along so I was the only person in a three row home radius. This is akin to feeling like being stranded on a desert island for a city slicker like myself.

Enough of my blathering: let's give a warm welcome to Eric!! (Clapping and cheers from the crowd.)


Hi. Here's our campsite.

Running around barefoot and playing with Baby Zoey.

Down low....too slow.

John the Chef.

Hammock time with MC.

Lots of off roading adventures and late night storytelling was involved as well.
There was also a huge black cow that was wondering around an empty campsite. It stuck its head in Hannah's window and tried to eat her snacks. We all had a blast and are looking forward to many more camping adventures. Cheerio.


There you have it ladies and gentlemen! I hope you enjoyed your very first, very brief blog post by Eric. If I wrote like him, I probably wouldn't be so behind on posting. Heck, I could probably even find time to blog almost daily. It's amazing how difficult I tend to make my life, especially when compared to how simply Eric lives his.

Camping at Assateague

As soon as we were 10 days out from our camping trip in Assateague I started stalking the 10-day weather report. It wasn't good, and it didn't get better. The sun was shining bright while we overstuffed the car, but the sky grew ominous about an hour into our drive. The wind was gusting at 30 miles per hour when we pulled up to our ocean side campsite. Hannah was not a fan of the sand smacking her in the face so she hung out in the car until we set up the tent. I took a short video because a still picture wouldn't show the whippiness of the wind (and also because my camera is already screwed up enough without subjecting it to a sandstorm). The dang "embed" feature is still not working for me so you'll have to click the link if you'd like a visual.

After we got the tent up, we walked down to the water's edge, but Hannah was miserable and insisted on being carried so she could bury her face in Eric's chest. I don't blame her; sandy wind in the face sucks. We went back to the tent then, blew up the air mattress, and flopped down on it while the wind threatened to blow away the tent with us in it . It was pretty rough, so we bailed. We hopped in the car and headed to Ocean City to find a hotel for the evening and wait out the wind. When we returned the next day, our neighbors in the RV said the weather got far worse and that we made the right call.

We laid in our king-size hotel bed the next morning and watched the Weather Channel...a big mistake. Apparently the first tropical storm of the season, Albert, was blowing through the area, and they were forecasting thunderstorms all week long and colder temperatures than I had packed for.

We turned off the TV, threw on sweatshirts, and went out to to walk along the beach. I took a couple videos of Hannah and Eric running around in the surf, this one and this one.

Our hotel was right next door to the Kite Loft which was convenient since we'd forgotten our kite. Eric splurged on a stunt kite, which Hannah helped teach him how to fly.

I was itching to get back to Assateague the whole time. Ocean City has a nostalgic place in my heart since it's where we vacationed every year growing up, but the buildings were driving me nuts...I wanted to be at our little campsite in the sand far away from anything city-like. When we finally made it back to the park, our tent was still standing, but it had water in it. We stretched a tarp over the top and decided to stick it out. It's a cute little setup, dontcha think?

Below is the tippy top of our campsite as seen from the beach side of the sand-buried fence that Hannah and Eric are climbing in the pic above.

Digging out the fence...

The first thing we made in our camp "kitchen" were these amazing beet burgers which I'd actually pre-made on Saturday--we just heated them up on the stove and slathered them in avocado. And Eric added bacon to his...

I was worried that we wouldn't have enough healthy food while camping so I spent all day Saturday cooking. In addition to the beet burgers, I made a souped up French potato salad, a pasta salad with sundried tomato pesto and spinach and olives, this wild rice salad with miso dressing, these Asian wraps with this peanut sauce, this garbanzo "tuna" salad, our favorite banana teff pancakes, some breakfast vegetable miso soup, and these yummy peanut butter cookies. I think that's it...I packed a variety of other store-bought items like sardines, chips and salsa, hummus and crackers, and even hot dogs and marshmallows (the ones from Whole Foods that are less creepy).



The sun was shining after lunch so we suited up and walked to the few feet to the beach to build sand castles. Eric's first step in building a sand castle is to dig a giant hole. I don't really get this, so I asked why, and his answer was so that we'd have a lot of sand to work with...I still don't really get it, but I dropped it and let him do his thing. While he dug his enormous, gigantic hole, Hannah and I built sand castles.

While digging his hole, he came across tons of those little sand crab things that Eric called sand fleas...Is that what they're called? I thought sand fleas were actually fleas. These things were those little round crabbies. Anyway, whatever they are, Hannah collected them in a bucket.

I tried to do a little reading in preparation for the class I start teaching next week, but ever since the end of breastfeeding, reading more than a page at a time is pretty much impossible. Snuggles are always a good reason to take a break though.

We made a fire that evening and roasted some weenies. I bought some Smart Dogs for me and roasted one, but it was so gross that I couldn't even finish it, and that's saying a lot because I finish most things, if not because I know it's good for me (not the case here) then out of a sense of duty as a card-holding member of the clean plate club. But this I could not finish. That's how yuck those things are. On the other hand, the beef hot dogs that I bought for Hannah and Eric were delicious...Hannah thought so too I guess because she ate two that night, one for breakfast, and another for lunch the next day. Fortunately we ran out after that so "no" was easy to enforce when she asked for another for dinner the next night.

We topped off the fire-roasted weenies with some fire-roasted marshmallows, which is totally out of the norm for me given the fact that even the non-creepy Whole Foods version is straight sugar. Hannah was a bit weirded out by them but ate two anyway. Unfortunately, like the Smart Dogs, the non-creepy marshmallows were gross. I guess some things just can't be substituted.

We slept comfortably in the tent that night--Hannah's first night in a tent! The temperatures cooled off considerably, and both Eric and I snuggled up under layers (I curled up in a sleeping bag), but Hannah, in her short-sleeved pajama shirt, thrashed and kicked and screamed "no blankets!" every time we tried to cover her. She slept uncovered the entire night with me and Eric waking up periodically to feel around her body and make sure she wasn't freezing. I have no idea how she was comfortable since I was freezing even in the sleeping bag....She's always run pretty hot, and sleeping in between the two of us probably helped, especially since Eric puts off more heat than a blazing campfire...but still!!

In the morning, Hannah helped Eric make breakfast on the stove. Pancakes, eggs, bacon, and fresh berries.

It was overcast and cool that morning so we decided to check out some of the trails while we waited for it to warm up. After dressing Hannah, she insisted on wearing a dress so I dug one out and she threw it over her outfit...Nice look, eh?

On our way to the Life of the Forest Nature Trail, we stopped for some ponies crossing.

Some images from the trail...

We had to hurry through the last part of the trail and skip the overlook because Hannah had to poop, or so she said. We raced off to find a bathroom, but it ended up being a false alarm. We headed up to the ranger station then to check on the weather report for the day and decided to cancel our last night, Wednesday night, which we'd added on in a moment of extreme excitement a few weeks after we reserved the first few nights. It was a little ambitious on our parts.

The Tuesday weather report wasn't great so we considered leaving even earlier, but we didn't want to, so we went back to the campsite to make the most of our non-raining time and agonize over what we should do.

Eric grabbed his wet suit and body board, and we wrapped Hannah in a life jacket and went to play in the surf.

I walked off to the bathroom and came back to find Hannah curled up in her towel in Eric's arms, her head covered in sand. Apparently he had been pulling her along on his body board with his back to the ocean when a big wave came along and log-rolled her across the beach...

Since the only showers on Assateague have cold water, we were at a loss as to what to do. We tried to rinse her hair in the freezing cold shower, but had to give up because it was pretty miserable, even for a little girl who runs as hot as she does. We decided to let it dry and then try to brush it out later. Some of it came out...

After she had warmed up from her dip in the ocean and subsequent freezing shower, we noticed some ponies down the beach so we walked down to a get a closer look. Yes, the standing horse has an obnoxiously obvious weiner. I realized it as I was taking the pic and was thinking it wasn't actually a great photo op as a result of that, but I wanted the pic anyway.

Having a sandy campsite meant that we didn't actually have to go anywhere to build sandcastles --how awesome is that?? So while I did a little reading, Hannah and Eric made a sandcastle. A sandy campsite also meant that we could walk around barefoot all the time. Love.

Then Eric ran for ice and fish, and Hannah and I made ourselves mermaid tails.

Then I made a big mistake. I turned on my phone and looked up the weather report. This was at 2:00 in the afternoon. According to the Weather Channel, thunderstorms would start at 4:30 and continue until 1:00 a.m.  It was bright and sunny, and the sky was clear, but Eric and I were still worried. The night before it had started raining at 8:00, which was fine because we just all went to bed, but getting stuck in the tent at 4:30 sounded a little more miserable. And if it was going to storm really bad, we were concerned about how Hannah would do in the tent with all the noise. At 3:30 we decided to pack up the campsite, but we did so begrudgingly. Neither of us was ready to for vacation to be over, so after a lot of griping about the weather, we decided to get another hotel and boycott Baltimore for a little longer. In retrospect, we probably should have just gone home because the hotel just felt like limbo--we didn't want to be there anymore than we wanted to be in Baltimore. Actually, in retrospect, we should have just stayed on the beach because it never even stormed!!!! From now on, I put no faith in the weather report.

Shoulda coulda...What we did was head up to The Carousel since it has a reputation for being super kid-friendly. The pool was much nicer than the place we'd stayed on the first night, but the rooms were nowhere near as convenient. It was okay, but I don't think I'd stay there again. The pirate ship playground was pretty cool though; Hannah really liked that.

The sun was shining and the sky was blue when we left Ocean City on Wednesday morning, and I was cursing the Weather Channel and myself and wishing we'd spent more time on Assateague. I'm trying not to regret it though; like Eric said before we left, "it's our maiden voyage." It was a good test run with Hannah, and I can't wait to go again. Can we go now?? I'm ready to go again...