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So our weekend to Lost Lake with Nashon’s cousins had an interesting start when they arrived at the camp ground to find at it was completely full.  After a few hours of searching, they spoke to a nice park ranger who showed them a near by camp ground with lots of available space.  On Saturday morning Nashon and I packed the girls into the car at 5 am, drove south about 5 hours and arrive at the NEW campground right at 10am.  Other than being shy with the family, the girls are both happy to get out of the car.  Isabell took about 5 minutes before saying “I wanna go home”; about 100 times.  Saturday was miserably hot with no shade at our camp spot.  We took advantage of the picnic benches across the campground to get some reprieve.  The creek was also nice to look at, but Isabell wanted nothing to do with it, or to be near it, or talk about it. Or to walk away, or not be near it, or anything for that matter.  Eventually, after failing nap 4 times, she fell asleep in the air conditioned car.  Amelia, however, was a doll with sleeping.  She took all of her naps in the tent, in her pack n play.  Did I mention that our new tent was so wonderful that we fit her pack n play, a blow up aerobed for isabell and our sleeping bags?  After her nap Isabell discovered that her 5 year old second cousin wasn’t so bad after all.  They sat in a camping char together and played with Nashon’s iPhone for quite some time.  Mia spent her day hiding her face in one of our necks whenever someone looked at her.  Though she did seem to take a fancy to nashon’s cousin Darian, as long as he didn’t hold her for too long (which means more than 3 seconds).  Dinner came and went and Isabell turns to Nashon and says “can I go to bed?”. We were fully expecting her to go to bed, and then get back up after 10 minutes to rejoin the party.  Sadly though, she missed the s’mores and the fire becuase she slept through the entire night on her nice blow up bed.  As it turned out, Mia was ready for bed at the same time as Isabell.  We got them both into bed in the tent together, and put a blanket over the top of Mia’s crib so the girls couldn’t see each other (we have learned that if they see each other they won’t go to bed).  But the blanket had a second effect; Amelia was a parrot in another life and got quiet and went right to sleep.  We did discover that while I did a good job of getting sunscreen and hats on both girls, I missed the back of my neck and Nashon’s head and neck.  Only slight sunburns, and we’ll manage without too much aloe.

Miraculously, both girls slept through the night.  Amelia complained a few times of being cold, so Nashon had to get up and put a blanket back over her.  About 6 am Nashon finally put her in his mummy bag with him and they slept that way for about an hour.  Morning came, breakfast was cooked with the help of Isabell and off she went to play.  In the dirt with her cousins.  Climbing,  running, digging, and picking as many dandelions as they could find.  In fact, she managed to entertain herself the entire time it took to break down camp and pack the car (who knew that camping for one night required so much STUFF).  Other than the drive taking almost an hour longer than planned to get home, it was a nice drive.  Both girls napped in the car and played well, only a few crying fits from each of them.

It was nice to see Nashon’s sister and cousins again, and it was a good trip.  We plan to do another trip next year, but hopefully we will pick someplace that will take reservations in advance, and is a bit cooler (or has shade at least).  The other thing that would have made it a better trip, is if Mia was able to toddle a bit more on her own without needing us to hold her all of the time.  Hopefully she will take a few more steps before our next camping trip in a few weeks.