Camping With the Fam

So we have totally taken advantage of the fact that Scott has had some free time to play. Back in June he told me that the one thing he wanted to do was to go camping as a family as soon as the Bar was over. So that we did. We got some reservations up in Lake Tahoe and headed up 4 days after the Bar. Not only was it absolutely beautiful, it was a blast. We had so much fun being together and watching Ada explore EVERYTHING! She was filthy within 5 minutes of getting there, but that is what camping is all about.

Scott is becoming quite the outdoors man. He earned points every time he logged onto a website for law school stuff and you can earn free things. This tent, along with a sleeping bag were our spoils from his many points!
The campsite was really little, but perfect for our small family. I think the biggest thing that I was worried about was bears. The Ranger warned us to keep EVERYTHING in the lock box. No sweet smelling lotions applied before bed, nothing in the tent that the bear would think is food, etc.

Check out that dirty face in the making (not mine, Ada's).


She was tired as soon as we got there, but that didn't stop her from rubbing dirt on her face like lotion

Ada is terrified of fire. In fact, when Scott was building one, she cowered over by me and cried. I got her to watch Scott and see that he was just fine. So she even got brave enough to go sit on his lap once it was hot and going strong

First time for S'mores. I don't know if she really is my daughter because she only took a couple of bites and was done with it. Maybe she was switched at birth?? I think though, that it was just too messy for her, which puts my mind at ease, because that is just like Scott. :)

Ada was a champ when it came to bed time. She didn't make a peep the whole night and slept in until about 7:30. Me on the other hand...I was freaked out about every sound I heard and was so worried that I would have to go to the bathroom (so scary to go by myself at night) that every time I fell asleep, I would wake up within a few minutes. I was terrified that a bear was going to rip open our tent and get one of us. Scott even talked about sleeping with the hatchet that we brought...but we didn't. Pretty dang tired the next day!

I guess we weren't totally hardcore because we didn't bring up food to cook, we just made a bunch of muffins, pasta salad and brought hot dogs and such for meals. Ada was happy her first morning out in the wilderness

Our friends from the ward let us borrow their baby carrier and it was a lifesaver. Ada loved being in the "back pack" and enjoyed yelling "Look at the water, " every time we passed some

Only a few more weeks (okay 7ish) to go...but who is counting?

Gorgeous views. I just wanted to find a big rock and jump off of it into the water, but knew I actually wouldn't had I found one.
Back in my younger years, maybe, but not now with the water being as cold as it was (oh..and being prego)

Ada wanted to get in the water as soon as she saw it. I braved it with her and it was FREEZING! She didn't want to hold my hand at all and would get mad when I asked for it.

Scott and I decided that we better fully get in the water. We drove to another site where the beach is better and the water access is easier. After what seemed like hrs (okay not that long) Scott finally submerged in the icy water, then I followed. Then we had a little accident. I told Ada to go sit next to her dad in the water, and while she was walking down to him, she lost her balance and fell. She stood up then fell again. She went completely under and was not happy. I think mainly cause she couldn't get her footing and it was so dang cold. We had to coax her to go back in the water, and this time she held our hands with great vigor.

Taking a sunbathing break after her little spill

On our drive back to our campsite which was called Emerald Bay State Park, we saw an awesome waterfall and a lookout point so we pulled over. Ada didn't last long because she was overtired and wanted to walk all over. But the Falls (Eagle Falls?) were amazing.

We went on one last hike our second day and we were all wiped out. Ada was at her breaking point about halfway through the hike which sucked because the first part was all down hill!! So, we had to hike back up with a very upset and hungry toddler. I was huffing and puffing too.

We got back to our campsite and made some dinner (I think we roasted hot dogs) and let Ada make friends with our neighboring campers. They had a couple of younger, but much older than Ada, who also loved to dance. So they taught Ada some pretty riskEY moves. She would put her hands on her head and wiggle her hips, then get real low to the ground. Really cute, but really am I ready for those types of moves?

Our last night, Scott and I just hung out by the campfire, enjoying the bright stars and warm fire. All of the sudden, I hear this licking noise and I thought for sure it was the neighbors little dog just taking a drink at the water spout. I turned my head just to be sure. NOPE, it was a nasty racoon, just five feet from me, licking our hand sanitizer bottle. I didn't have a flashlight on hand because it was sitting on the table and Scott couldn't see the racoon. I tried to flash my phone light on it, while telling Scott to go chase it away. Scott was freaking out cause he thought it might be a bear (because remember, he couldn't see it from where he was sitting). But, he trusted me and started walking toward the table. The racoon ran off, but freaked me out! I made him look under the van and table to make sure it was gone before we got settled at the fire again.
Anyway, we had a great time and I am so glad that we were able to go. I am not going to lie and say that camping with a toddler is easy peasy because it is not! Really hard, actually. But, it is all about creating memories, right? We still enjoyed the time we had together and ended our trip with only minimal scrapes and mishaps.