Anthony's First Camping Trip

Labor Day Weekend - Anthony's first camping trip. I suppose camping IS supposed to be an adventure, but I could have done without some of the challenges this time around! We left Friday afternoon around 3:30 p.m., and headed up the mountain to Idyllwild. The weather was perfect - about 85 during the day, and high 50's at night. Anthony's temperature, however, was not so perfect. We arrived to our campsite, only to take him out of the car and realize he had spiked a very high fever - how high? Don't really know - didn't pack a thermometer for our camping trip! (Murphy's Law - I think this is probably the FIRST time we've ever left home for overnight that I DIDN'T pack a thermomether and every children's medication in our medicine cabinet!) I had a limited supply of children's Tylenol in the diaper bag, which we immediately gave him, but it did little for his fever. He was extremely needy, and the combination of not feeling well and the totally new experience overwhelmed him. All this meant that either Darrell or I had to hold him pretty much ALL the time, making it difficult to accomplish much or to really enjoy ourselves. The first night was pretty much miserable. Anthony's reticence to eat anything culminated with a clear explanation when he puked all over the inside of the tent while I was trying to change him. Bedtime came and went, but Anthony slept in fitful bits of time, punctuated with bouts of crying unconsolably. We were both worried and frustrated at the same time. He kept Darrell up most of the night, while I got a few hours of interrupted sleep. Saturday wasn't much better, though he was able to keep some food down. We took a drive into town to get more tylenol.

Saturday afternoon, my brother Eric and his wife Chrissy, along with my neice Chaleena and nephew Jake, came up for a picnic with us, which was the highlight of the day. Anthony's fever started to come down by evening, though as you can see from the pictures, he was still not a very happy camper.

By near sundown, the fever finally broke for good, and his mood started to improve. Of course, just about the time he started to feel comfortable and wanted to start walking around, it got dark, so he couldn't really get down and explore. Saturday night was a little better, though he still woke up crying several times.

Sunday morning, we slept in to about 8:30, then got up and I fixed eggs and smoked sausage, along with hot cocoa, for breakfast. Even the fun of that was dampened when a swarm of bees and yellow jackets decided they wanted breakfast too. (We WILL be purchasing a screen tent to enclose the picnic table and cooking area before our next camping trip!) At least Anthony was feeling better and was more adventurous - of course, that made it harder for us to pack things up, because he was constantly headed either for the dangerous hillside or the fire pit!

It wasn't all bad, though - in between bouts of crying and worries about Anthony, we did find some time to enjoy the cool evenings and the awesome scents of the woods and the campfire. I even roasted some marshmallows.

We're hoping to take another go at it sometime in the next month or so. I've certainly learned that emergency stuff - like thermometers and medicine - is NOT the area to try to reduce the amount of stuff I pack!