A Night to Remember, and Never Repeat!

So Robby and I decided it would be fun to try taking our kids camping. We've never been camping in Texas, and have only been 3 times since we've been married-twice before kids and once last summer in Washington with Robby's family. We got out our tent, but decided (I decided) that it was too small for the 4 of us. So we borrowed a friend's. But Lily enjoyed playing with the tent in the yard. Robby got home from work yesterday and we finished getting ready to go. Robby and I were both wearing hats, so Lily wanted to wear one, too. We went a state park not too far away.

They have tent pads at each campsite to set up your tent-different from Washington where you just find a spot you like within your campsite. Lily is saying "tent!"

Once the tent was set up Robby got the fire going. We had made tinfoil dinners, but hadn't precooked the meat. Next time we will do that. We did at least pre-cook the vegetables. Amazingly, the meat got done, even my chicken. We had forgot the salt and pepper, so the food didn't really taste like much, but it was filling at least! Lily is eating grahm crackers. Yum! We had neighbors next to us playing their radio, which was slightly annoying, but they turned it off not too late, and that's not nearly as annoying as we turned out to be!

Then of course we roasted marshmellows for smores. Lily enjoyed it, but she had more fun eating the marshmellows and chocolate separately.

She seriously just shoved them in there. We tried to get her to say chubby bunny. No luck!

So this picture was just before the you-know-what hit the fan. We had an airmattress for Robby and I, Lance slept in his carseat (he still sleeps in it at home, so he was fine), and we had a pack n' play for Lily. Which she did NOT want to sleep in. She was right next to us, but kept screaming and crying. Which at home is fine. Camping with a bunch of people all around you, not so fine. But whenever we put her next to us, she thought it was a great game, and would scream and laugh and bug Lance. So then we'd put her in the pack n play. And she'd cry. So we'd get her out. And she'd laugh and laugh, showing NO signs of sleep. So at 11:30 I decided to take her out to the van and strap her in her carseat, and then once she was aleep bring her back to the tent. She fell asleep really fast, but then back in the tent woke up and started crying, as soon as I'd laid back down. By now it's midnight. So I told Robby we had two options-he could sleep in the van with Lily, or we could pack up and go home. I couldn't sleep out there because I knew Lance would be up at 3:00 AM. Which he was. On the nose. So Robby took his book and pillow, and carried Lily out to the van. Luckily it was a full moon. Or not luckily. Maybe that was the problem. I had cracked the windows a bit, but it was pretty humid outside, so Robby tried turning on the car to crack the windows more. The problem was, he had locked the car with the remote key, instead of from the van door. So when he tried to start the van, the van thought it was being stolen, and the alarm went off. And went off. And went off. At 12:30 AM. In a silent campground. I came running out of the tent with no shoes, and was yelling at Robby for the keys, but he couldn't remember in his panic what he did with them. He ended up opening the engine and unplugging the battery to get the honking to stop. So I'm pretty sure we were REALLY hated. I didn't know if I should laugh or cry! We thought about just packing up and going home then, but we didn't know if we'd be able to get the horn to go off when Robby put the battery back. So we stayed. Lance and I in the tent, Robby and Lily in the van. I got about 5 hours of sleep, Robby about 2. It started to rain at 7:00 AM, so I got up then and started taking down camp. Luckily it didn't rain much. This picture pretty much captures Lily.

And this picture captures Lance! Guess who got more sleep last night!

Right when we took this picture there was a huge burst of thunder and lightning which terrified Lily. Lance was fine with it, though.

It took us a bit, and the car alarm did go off again when Robby put the battery back, but he figured out to push the unlock button on the remote and it stopped. We got out of there before anyone could come "visit" us. And got bagels back in town. You know those neighbors you pray you won't end up next to? That was us!
Lily really wanted to go down to the river, so we stopped by for a few minutes on our way out.

My hero! He was so good. We will NOT be camping any time soon-not until Lily is sleeping in her own bed. She has never been a cuddler, or been able to sleep with Robby and I, and last night proved it once again!

On a totally different note, my dad comes home from Afghansitan tomorrow! He will probably go back, but hopefully not for awhile. He's done at 1TV.