A little natural beauty

Amazingly glorious weather took us out camping this weekend, near Northwest Trek and Mt. Rainier.

We were the only people staying in the campground tent area the second night, which was both wonderful for privacy and a little bit horror-movie-spooky while walking to the bathrooms in the dark.

We also learned that if you are going to take a little boy who hates covers camping in October, he is going to be a little boy popsicle by morning, despite your best efforts to keep him covered.

I'm not sure if I've been to Northwest Trek before - certainly not as an adult. It is a wonderful place to take kids!

Yes, the woods again.

I'm thinking that I need to change the name of this blog to "We camp, I buy fiber, nothing else happens." Really, we don't have anything else to report.

J and I went camping. Deception Pass this time, with my L.U. (loyal underling - though she's looking for a different job ((weep)) that might offer more benefits such as hours or money, but that is a lengthy aside for another day) and her son. We told everyone it was to give the boys time to bond, but since her son is 18 and J is 3, the chances of lifelong friendship developing are smallish. He was great for sharing the piggybacking though, so we like him.

It was a great place for J. Lovely sandy & rocky beach to dig in and a lake just steps from the sea shore in case he wanted to swim. Next time we'll rent lake boats. The adults were happy too - fairly private spot, the bathrooms not too far away, red & pink wine and some rum for the more difficult moments of wilderness life, such as the times when the L.U. drives clear back to civilization for a job interview that turns out to be scheduled for a different Tuesday.

J is reduced to bliss by marshmallows and fire-poking-with-stick. There was a little trauma the second night when he had first a nightmare and then a catastrophic night diaper failure an hour later, so Mom was a bit groggy by the end of the trip, not to mention sunburned and deeply in need of eyeliner, but I'm still counting the trip as a success. Roni got to a casino in his absence and got back out only $7 down so his time alone was also a happy one.

And I came back to a delivery of alpaca-silk-camel fiber combos, so all is right in the world.

After getting up this morning, J asked me what we were going to do today. I told him (with secret delight) that he was going to "school." There was a brief pause, then an ecstatic intake of breathe, and then he proceeded to tear around the house, getting ready as fast as he could shove his little body into superman underwear and his little feet into the wrong sandals. His love of daycare is a little amazing to me, given the turnover in adults there - we arrived this morning to find another letter in his file telling us that the director was gone. Again. This one lasted only a month or so. He's on his fourth teacher in the same classroom. And he hasn't been there a year yet! I know that corporate daycares tend to have a lot of turnover, but surely this is excessive, and should send up some red flags. But, he is so very happy there. He only cares about the kids anyway and they don't turn over the way the staff does. And the people who do stay are very nice to us, his vocabulary has grown in leaps and bounds, and he can tell his colors apart now so my worries about him being colorblind have been alleviated. So he gets to stay, even if no one else adult does, as long as he's happy and safe. That's really all I expect from a daycare anyway - they aren't required to get him into Harvard.

Random trips to the wilderness

OK, maybe not wilderness but there were trees at least. I've been a bit remiss about posting since school got out, so here are a few of our adventures this summer.

Camping with the Frost's extended family over Memorial weekend:

Camping with Grandma just a few miles from home - we're working our way through the county parks with camping potential:

My road trip to the Black Sheep Gathering on the last day of school. It was a blast, and I barely resisted becoming a shetland sheep owner. If I hadn't had to go back on Amtrak and doubted their willingness to have sheep roaming the aisles . . . also loved the Jacob sheep, but found those horns a little intimidating.

And my cousin's backyard definitely doesn't count as wilderness, but we had a great time there, complete with the Italian branch of the family and a band.

It's been a pretty good summer so far.

Sleeping in a tent

The first camping trip of the year went well. The weather cooperated beautifully and Dash Point State Park turned out to be a lovely location to try out our new gear and J's camping stamina. Not too far, trails through the woods, and a sandy beach at the end of one trail so J could dig for hours.

The tent is very tall, to the point that I think I'd have difficulties putting it up by myself. And 6' 4" Roni can stand up in it without trouble. It is six sided, so lots of room in the corners for each person's bag of clothes and sundries. Our new extra thick sleeping mats were wonderful, and the new bags kept us toasty. We had a little trouble keeping J in his - he didn't like to have it zipped but he thrashes so he kept coming uncovered. Plus, he was so excited about the whole camping experience that when it was his time to go to sleep he meandered in circles around the inside of the tent for over an hour instead, repeatedly coming to the mesh window to check on us and the fire.

The fire was one of the hitches in the trip - the wood wasn't very dry and while it kept going for the most part, it was with more of a smolder than a roar. I also had to take myself for a walk at one point because I was becoming far too controlling of Roni's efforts in fire building. I'm learning, slowly. It did get going enough for smores, which was J's only real concern. He ate his weight in marshmallows and then polished off the rest of the chocolate when I wasn't looking.

Second hitch: despite the mound of belongings we brought with us, we managed to forget the lantern, Roni's glasses (and contact solution) and - the true emergency - coffee makings. So when I got up in the morning, in true car-camping fashion Roni'd already made a Starbucks run, proving we weren't even remotely in the wilderness. But this was just a test camping; we'll get farther out and for longer next time. And we definitely need to pare down our supplies. For a single night's camping we managed to bring enough to fill the Highlander to the roof. That must change.

Off to the wilderness

OK, maybe not wilderness, as we're heading to a state park with all the running water amenities, but we're still all excited about going on our first camping trip of the year. We car campers like to have a little civilization with our wilderness.

And we've upgraded! Here is our new tent:

We needed something bigger as on last year's trip, Roni's head and feet were tucked tightly against the walls of my only-adequate starter tent. Also, due to a mishap with a hot propane lantern that fell outside, the old tent has a round hole melted in it, at perfect height for water and mice to enter the tent.

So, we are now the proud owners of the REI Camp Dome 5 person tent. Very tall and plenty wide, so there should be lots of room for two adults, two kids and all the assorted paraphernalia that car campers require.

Once the online REI shopping spree began, I also added two of these three season sleeping bags, supposedly good to 20+ degrees. I doubt they'll be used much at below freezing temps, but they'll be warmer than the slumber party type we've been using. And Roni's is extra long so he'll fit. And I got 3" self-inflating sleeping pads as well. We will be camping in comfort!

J and (eventually) D will still need new warmer bags, but since this is just a test run camping trip, we'll take enough blankets for J, and he can use my old sleeping pad for his younger and more tolerant bones. He slept on the floor for months, so he'll be happy.

That's the end of the new list, but J and I hit the Goodwill and Fred Meyer to add to our permanent camping kit, so we've pots & pan & mismatched silverware & plastic dishes & cans of propane, so I think we're set. The goal is to have a kit we can just grab and go with any time the camping whim strikes. There is so much of the state that Roni & J have never seen, and many places I haven't been to in years. The boys and I will have the summer to explore, and Roni can join us on the weekend trips.

The weather report is encouraging too, so even though this is a very brief trip, it should be a great start to the summer!