Camping: Take One

We took our first family camping trip of 2012 this past weekend.  It wasn't what we would call "relaxing," however, it was memorable :)   I'll start with the highlights:

Cooper loved the waterpark, even though the water was FREEZING!  He was shrieking and screaming with excitement even before his feet hit the water.

Cooper loved that he could just walk around and explore!!

Whee!!

Although he looks a little scared, he was begging to go down again

Mom!  Just let me go play!  I'm warm enough!!

We also went to a petting zoo.  Weird that our campground had a petting zoo, but it was really kind of cool.  Cooper even got to feed a goat.

At the petting zoo

Belly shot :)

We headed out on the bike path with the kid trailer.  Jeremy and I both love biking, so we were hoping Cooper would follow suit.  He didn't really appreciate the cool helmet we picked out for him, but he did love the ride, especially once we ditched the helmet.  It just looked so uncomfortable for his little neck.  Since we are sticking to trails only for now, I think we can safely do without the helmet (don't tell our pediatrician!!).  Our maiden biking voyage ended after only a few miles, since the rain moved in.  What better to do when it's raining?  Go shopping!!  I found some good deals on little girl clothes, and a couple good steals for Cooper, too!

He kind of liked the helmet for a while...

Old Navy and Carter's had some good deals for little girls :)

Playing in the camper turned out to be a blast.  Cooper loved playing up on the beds with his toys.  Nap time and bedtime in the camper were interesting for Mr. Routine, but turned out to be my favorite part... we decided the easiest way to get Cooper to sleep without annoying the whole campground with his crying would be to lay down with him until he fell asleep.  Jeremy and I both ended up falling asleep with him until well after dark that first night, and then we were able to catch some quiet time for ourselves out by the fire.  It was only then that we could just relax...

Cooper and Mommy messing around in the camper

"Ere go?"  (Translated: Where'd daddy go?)

I think we decided we're going to hold off on more family-only camping trips until kids are big enough to remember the fun... maybe for now, if we have friends or relatives to tag along with, it will make things a little easier.  We knew heading into the weekend that it would be a lot of work with Cooper, and we were right.  It seemed like I spent most of our down time chasing Cooper, and helping him learn what life at a campground is like.  Okay, let's be honest... helping him learn all the things he CAN'T do at a campground...  Jeremy spent most of our down time setting up or taking down our camping stuff, cooking meals, washing dishes, and cleaning up the camper.

Perfect chair for the Coopster

Who knew a hose could be so much fun?!

Walking off into the sunset, just Cooper and his hose...

Helping daddy take down the pop-up

In the end, it was a memorable adventure.  We had no real expectations, and no schedule, so it was the perfect way to go.  Camping: Take Two will happen this weekend in Lanesboro... we'll see if anything we learned helps us through THREE nights away from home :)