Our Little Camper

{September 8th}

We took Braxton on his first camping trip last weekend!

We have been meaning to go all summer long but between shooting weddings, traveling to see family, having visitors and other things going on we haven't had a single free weekend to go.

This was our first free weekend going forward so we knew if we didn't go now, we would have to wait until next year.  We were a little hesitant, though, since a cold front moved through on Friday and we knew it would get down to 30 degrees at night.

We decided to just go for it and if it got too cold we would just come home.
Some friends recommended a campsite they've used that wasn't too far out of town.  It was basically between Mt Evans and Evergreen... about an hour/hour and a half outside of town.

It was really easy to find, not too far away, and there was no one else around... awesome site!

We got a late start leaving on Friday and hit rush hour traffic, so we didn't get there until it was starting to get dark and it was almost Nug's bedtime.

We brought the pack n' play to put Braxton in while we set up but after about 5 minutes, he was over that.  It was getting dark (and cold!) fast so Brian did most of the set-up while I bundled up Braxton and ended up having to hold him. 
We built our fire, tried to cook hot dogs while one of us held the baby, ate, hung out and then headed to bed.

Originally we planned on just having Braxton sleep in the pack n' play but we didn't end up getting a big tent before we went and it was way too cold for that.  Since we didn't want to put him in the freezing tent alone, we ended up just keeping him up way past his bed time until he started to break down and then we all just went to bed.

Mine and Brian's down sleeping bags zip together so we did that and then just put Braxton between us.  We also layered him up with two sets of pajamas, and then covered him with 2 more down blankets. 

He loved when we first got in the tent and totally passed out about 2 minutes later... poor sleepy babe.

We stayed pretty warm but none of us really got that much sleep.  Braxton woke up about 4-5 times throughout the night crying... but he was still totally asleep.  It was the weirdest thing.  As soon as we sat up and cuddled him, he would go back to sleep but Brian and I were pretty uncomfortable trying to accommodate him and make sure he was warm. 

I think our first try was pretty successful and Brian and I are both glad we went! 

Besides a few timing issues (which was our fault) and the weather... it went well.

It definitely could have been a lot worse!

I think it will be much better next year when we go since Braxton will be older and we can let him wander around and we know what to expect.

Can't wait for many more family camping trips!!