Happy Saturday, loves! Today’s post is a fun one because I get to talk about my littles and one of our favorite vacations – camping! If you’ve been following along with us via my blog, instagram, or snapchat (fleurdille), then you got to see some snippets of our camping trip.
Several weeks ago we went tent camping for a week near Silverton, Colorado. When we say tent camping, we mean it. We’re talking sleep on the ground in a tent, cook meals on a mini stove, no showers type camping. For those that don’t know, I grew up camping in Colorado and I think that’s why I was overly excited to introduce my girls to the outdoors and show my husband where I camped as a child.
Now, prepping for our camping trip took some research and deliberate planning. We knew Emma Grace would be fine, but we were slightly worried about how Abby would do given she would only be 9 months old. Weather-wise, it would be in the 70s during the day, but it would dip down to 50 and below at night, which is quite cold for a baby. So, I thought I’d share with you what we learned because frankly, I found very little on pinterest and the internet when I was doing research.
THE GOOD:
- Tent Rental – we were worried about this piece because we have a 2-man tent, but not one big enough for two kids and from the research we had done, we knew we would need a tent big enough to put Abby’s pack’n’play in. Thankfully, you can rent tents from REI, and so we were able to rent a 6-man tent and simply pick it up in Denver on the way and drop it off on the way out of town. Also, the price to rent a tent is super reasonable, and even cheaper if you’re a member. NOTE: only the Denver REI rents camping gear.
- Go Pod – this is maybe my favorite baby product ever. A sweet friend introduced us to the Go Pod right before we left and I cannot imagine how we would have done our trip without it. The Go Pod is a portable activity center that folds up like an outdoor chair. It’s easy to collapse and very light weight. It has two cup holders (we put snacks in one and a drink in the other) and a table-top that surrounds the baby to put toys on. It also has a mat on the bottom so your baby’s feet do not make contact with the ground. This was perfect for letting Abby join us by the campfire and we will be bringing it to the beach with us as well to protect Abby’s little feet from the hot sand.
THE BAD:
- Nursemaid’s Elbow – we are no stranger to Nursemaid’s Elbow as Emma Grace has pulled her elbow out of socket twice before, but sure enough she pulled her elbow out of socket halfway through our trip. While this is normally a quick trip to the ER or pediatrician, we were over an hour away from the nearest doctor or emergency clinic. Luckily it happened during business hours, so we were able to make it to the closest “big city” – Durango, before the clinic closed, but it made me think how important it is to know where the nearest hospital and/or nearest town doctor is if you’re going to be camping remotely.
THE IMPROVS:
- Pack’n’Play – Nighttime with Abby was definitely the biggest challenge of the trip. We layered her in 3 layers of PJS, several pairs of socks, and mittens, but her nose, hands, ears were still freezing when she woke up. Yes, she slept through the night, but she would wake up early like 5am and not be able to go back to sleep due to being cold. We knew we didn’t want to put a hat on her in case she pulled it over her face while sleeping, and we were too scared to sleep with her in our sleeping bag, so we had to get creative with her pack’n’play situation. We ended up cutting apart a thermal blanket (you know, the foil-looking ones that runners wear after running a marathon), and taped it to the sides of the pack’n’play to retain heat from the day. We then draped a sleeping bag over 3/4 of the top of the pack’n’play to make it like a cave. We left a small opening for oxygen, and I laid right by her and naturally checked her every hour it felt like. It worked pretty well!
- Bathtub – although we drove into town every couple of days to shower, we wanted the girls to be able to bathe at least every other day. So, we improvised! We emptied a rubber tub, filled it with water we heated from a pot, and let the girls have at it! Abby wasn’t too sure about it at first, but once she saw her sister laughing she was just fine!
