After waiting a week for our tent to get here, it finally did... just in time for us to use it. And luckily the weather was cooperative, getting nice and warm so we could go camping. This is Zayden's second time camping, though his first time camping he just chilled in my stomach at 6 weeks old and made me throw up a bunch, so I don't think that one counts. We were hesitant about how he'd do, but seeing him out there with sticks tottering about the uneven ground it was like he was in his element. He did GREAT!
We went camping at Oxbow Park, a campground located on the Sandy River and only 15 minutes from our house. Tyler never gets tired of all the tall green trees, and personally, neither do I. After making several rounds through the camp grounds (and getting a little car sick) we finally agreed settled on site #37. It turned out to be a great little spot.
Putting up the tent was NOT a one person job. In fact it took longer because we, Tyler didn't really have instructions, just pictures on the outside of the box. This was not so helpful.... but we managed. Our tent is a 9 person tent and we both had to admit that it would comfortably hold 9 people. Our queen air mattress, the pack'n'play, and two sleeping bags on the ground for the boys fit with room to spare.
Our cozy beds away from home....
The boys' side. :)
Ta da! Here's our site all settled in.
After getting everything set up and eating some cold cut sandwiches and fruit for our dinner we decided to "explore". We knew the river was somewhat close to our site and so we headed out to find it.
Since it was so nice and hot, going down near the river was glorious. Great for dipping your toes or feet into... or just splashing each other, like we did.
The Sandy River.
Immediately the boys honed in all the rocks located everywhere... and soon were throwing them into the river attempting to 'skip' the rocks like dad.
Zayden had a hard time trying to walk over all those millions of different shaped rocks, but that didn't deter him from making his way to the water.
Tyler decided to have a competition to see who could throw a rock and hit that little one sticking out on the far right. Guess who hit it first?? Me. Yup. How ironic.
If you'll notice in the picture below how intent the boys are listening to dad explain about water skippers... if only they listened to me that way....
After our exploring was done we headed back to our site and broke out the goods. As in the sugary goods. Marshmallows, graham crackers and Hershey's chocolate bars.
The boys were in s'more heaven!
And look how excited they are about that fire...
I took Zayden in the tent with me to put him to sleep around 8:30. After rolling all over me for like 20 minutes he finally passed out. I put him in his pack'n'play and we didn't hear a peep the rest of the night. The boys stayed up til around 10:30 and ate their year's quota for sugar, but were so happy. We eventually sent them to the tent for bed, which received a minimal amount of protesting followed by snoring 5 minutes later. Tyler and I stayed up til the fire died down, relishing in the silence of the night and holding hands. I think we headed off to bed around 11:00ish. The boys slept soundly all night, not one of them waking until 6:30 Friday morning. I figured they'd be up early since when the sun's up, they are too. We tried to keep them quiet in the tent, but they were hungry so ventured outside to get breakfast. Don't you love our fancy plates? I forgot to pack some paper ones...
Zayden was having so much fun wandering around eating his food and dropping crumbs everywhere, then he'd pick them up off the ground and shove them in his mouth... usually resulting in the dirt goatee...we started referring to him as nasty baby, for good reason.
While eating our breakfast we had a little visitor. This deer came to hang out with us while we were eating. It was so calm and didn't even startle when the kids got close to it. In fact, Tyler even held out his hand with some leaves to feed it. It came right out, sniffed his hand and them turned up his nose. Apparently he didn't like those leaves... though it still lingered for a while near us for a good 20 minutes.
The boys loved it. B kept trying to run near it to "feed" it and Z would growl at it (because he doesn't know what sound a deer makes, and so naturally all unknown animal sounds result in a growl). It was surely the highlight of our morning.
What a beautiful area we live in...
After getting home and doing seven loads of laundry... yes, seven. I decided it was too hot to stay in the house and we should go swimming at our favorite outdoor pool, the Sellwood Pool. Last time we went Z was a baby, but this time he was QUITE comfortable wading through the water, perhaps more comfortable than he should be, especially since he can't swim.
That kid is fearless.
Quincy and Braxton, on the other hand, were NOT fearless. Q wanted to stay near the shallow end, and when he got deeper than his waist (due to our coaxing to come practice swimming, with us, of course) he would FREAK out, screaming and crying. Clearly we need to work on his comfort level in the water.
B eventually warmed up to the idea of being in "deeper" water and even got brave enough to wade into it up to his chin.
Going to the pool was the perfect way to end our hot, muggy, Friday!
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