On Pine Hill: Baby's First Camping Trip

Sunday, June 26, 2011

Baby's First Camping Trip

On Friday, Andrew had his two month doctor's visit. He's 62%ile for weight, 51%ile for height, and 54%ile for head circumference. He's grown two whole inches since birth! I'm so impressed. He also got his first round of vaccinations, which made his leg very sore all afternoon/evening. The poor guy - we put on his diapers really loose and let him sleep on our chests while he recovered.

Battle scars

Also of note around Pine Hill -- all the birdies are hatching their babies! A finch couple made a nest in the hanging flower basket that Travis and Andrew got me for Mother's Day, and a few days ago, we started to hear the cheep-cheep of little beaks. It's hard to get a good shot of them without disturbing them - the nest is tucked down in the (impressively flourishing) flowers, but here's a good attempt from Travis. You can see the little fluff balls and one little beak. There are four chicks in there.

Flower basket location

The bluebirds who nest in our little birdhouse also have chicks - we can hear them peeping. But they are too hard to see.

The main event for this weekend was that Andrew had his first camping trip! We went up to Pike National Forest just east of the Lost Creek Wilderness. All of the established campgrounds were full and very very crowded, so we ended up freedom camping at an established site up on a ridge at Stoney Pass. Andrew enjoyed all of the sights and sounds of the outdoors, and we had a nice hike up the 4wd road in the BOB stroller. He even slept really well at night!

We had made the assumption that there is a dichotomy paradox for tents similar to the way there is a dichotomy paradox for duffel bags. That is - no matter how much stuff you've got in there, you can always get one more thing in. We have an REI Half Dome 2+ tent, which is a two-man tent. We figured, well hey, Andrew's just a little bit more person, we should all be able to cuddle up in there, right? Yeah not so much. Andrew may have slept well, but mommy and daddy had a fairly rough night all contorted up to make room. So, uh, next on the list is a three man tent of some sort. To accommodate our little man.

Other than that, it was really super fantastic to be in the mountains again, and we can't wait to get back out there again... with a little more elbow room.