Friday, June 15, 2012

Camping



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.