Something I Learned About Camping With A 1 Year Old

DON'T DO IT!

So, here's my story about camping.

We've had this camping trip planned for at least 3 or 4 months; it was our neighborhoods 3rd annual trip and our first time ever actually going. Last year Jason tried to talk me into going- of course we didn't go because AJ was ONE MONTH OLD!

Yesterday we loaded up and went down to the Colorado Campground which is about 90 minutes Southwest of us. We were all looking forward to a fun time together. Lots of kids and adults and dogs and just a good time to be had. I knew that sleep would be tough because of how our last camping trip went, but I thought with the help of some Benadryl and the fact that AJ was older and sleeping thru the night, that we'd be ok. WRONG!!

When we arrived, Jason set up the tent and we unloaded the car and hung out. We all had a great time- AJ loved the dirt and tried to eat every rock he could find, but that was ok. (see the video below)

We decided after a while to put AJ in the backpack so we could enjoy our dinner together and relax a bit. By the time dinner was over, it was after 8pm and I figured it was time for AJ to go to bed. I got him all ready, gave him a little Benadryl and put him down in the pack n play. It was pretty easy. He talked for a bit and then passed out. I thought perhaps we'd be ok. WRONG AGAIN!!

I was super tired, so I decided about 10pm to go to bed myself. Keep in mind that we NEVER sleep in the same room as AJ. He NEVER sleeps in our bed; always in his crib. So, sleeping in a tent with him is really hard. I hear every move he makes which means I don't sleep. I worry that he's going to wake up or that I may be too loud moving around and wake him.

Fast forward to about 1am and I start to hear him moving around. I'm laying there wondering if he's just rearranging, or waking up, or too hot, too cold, etc... Then about 1:45am he starts to cry. I THOUGHT BENADRYL WOULD KEEP HIM ASLEEP!!! So, I lay there thinking that perhaps this will just be a minute and he'll cry himself back to sleep. No such luck.

I decided the best thing to do is to get him up and put him in the car and drive around a bit, like last time, hoping he'll fall asleep and then I guess I will sleep in the car. What I forgot at that very moment was that the park ranger had told us that afternoon that there were FIVE bears hanging out in our campground. Ya, so I wasn't about to sleep in my car (which by the way had 2 coolers full of food in it!)

I drove around for about 30 minutes and once I pulled back into our campsite, I turned off my car and BAM...the dome light turns on. And guess who is WIDE awake??? UGH!!! So...I went to our tent and woke up Jason and told him that AJ and I were going home. I wasn't going to do this all night; driving around, worrying if AJ was going to sleep, worrying if a bear was going to come after us and ALSO get no sleep. Not worth it at all.

Finally, around 2:30am I left. We had to offload the coolers into someone elses car (tough to do as everyone was asleep and their cars were all locked) and then I left.

It was a LONG drive; I was so exhausted and it was DARK!! I was so afraid that I would hit a deer (which I did see one hanging out on the side of the road at one point) or that I would fall asleep. It wasn't the safest idea, but I didn't know what else to do. I drove with my brights and my air conditioning on and tried to go the speed limit, yet get home as fast as I could. All I could think about was sleep.

We got home around 4am and I transferred AJ to his bed (of course he slept the entire way home) and crashed myself until about 7:15am...when he woke up and we started ALL over again. Thankfully, we were starting over at home. Without bears. Or rain. Or dirt. Or rocks. In our own beds :)

I think we'll probably call it a season for AJ & I :)

Here's some video of AJ when we first got to the campsite. He is SUCH A BOY!!