Aurora’s first camping trip was a HUGE SUCCESS! I was a bit apprehensive. Cheerfully playing in the REI’s
demo tents is one thing, tenting overnight in the dark, wild woods is quite
another. Aurora was a pro.
She ran round and round the campsite singing songs and
pointing out various insects.
She was absolutely giddy when we put up the tent and barely ate any of
her supper (breadsticks & pizza) favoring instead to play inside. She was not amused when I took her out
to go a nature walk, but quickly warmed to the idea when we begin spotting
shapes along the trail. Many squares,
circles, rhombuses, rectangles, and octagons (plus a couple of flowers,
squirrels, and spiders) later, we ran out the rest of her our my
energy on the playground.
Aurora crawled happily into the tent, on to her Kermit
pillow, and under the “covers.”
(By “covers” I mean a bed sheet, a flannel shirt, and our backpacking
tent. Our camping trip has been
postponed so many times already that this time, even though I was not prepared,
I threw everything into the car anyway and we whisked ourselves away. I knew I would forget something
important. Indeed, that important
thing was a blanket!)
Aurora stayed up a bit later than normal shining her
flashlight at every little thing. Then
Daddy read her a bedtime story (three times), we said our prayers, and she was
out within moments. Sleeping
outside must suit her well, because she slept and slept and slept in the
morning, then contentedly emerged
as if tenting was perfectly routine for us.
Alas, the ending of the grand adventure was a bit tragic
when Hank pulled the poles from the tent in order to pack up. Aurora threw tearful self upon the
deflating fabric and pleaded for us not to go.
