Labor Day 2016

I love looking through all my friends feeds and all the blogs I follow and see the little kiddos just smiling and cooperating for the cameras.  It completely makes me believe that they are chill little kids that listen to their parents when told to do something without pitching a fit or running away.  But I'm a parent, and I know better. I know that behind the scenes, those kids are just as crazy as mine.. or at least I hope they are.

 

Conner pushes the energy to the next ten levels beyond how I see most kids interact.  And Linden tries to follow suit.  I also have a 9 month old that was finally sleep trained but doesn't do well outside of his regimented night routine. 

 

You may be wondering why I'm even talking about this. It because despite how these boys are, we decided to go tent camping for Labor Day weekend.  Take a moment.  Soak that in. 2 year old + 9 month + tent camping. yeah, that happened.

 

First off, I have to fully admit, it was fun! We had a blast hanging out with Joe's family. Conner even did great without a much needed nap.  A huge part of camping with Conner being a success was because he had his cousins there to play and wrestle and a lake for him to swim all day in.

 

See Exhibit A:

 

Most of the day was spent doing just that. Swimming. Walks. Eating! Watching the boys wrestle.  It was so much fun!!

 

 

 

Nighttime... not fun. After trying for two hours to get Linden to fall asleep, he finally caved and drifted off.  That lasted a whopping 2 hours and then he was back to crying until I gave in and laid down with him for the night.  Moments where you have time to talk with other adults sans kiddos is rare, so I was a little bummed that I had to throw in the towel early instead of chatting around a campfire.  Then 3am rolled around, and we were back to crying. I gave it 2 hours and finally called it quits, so me and Linden headed home at 5am for a morning nap.

 

Best hour of sleep ever!

 

We rejoined the group the next day for more swimming, walks, food, fishing and missed naps.  I left to pick up lunch, and while I was gone I receive this picture:

 

 

Conner caught his first fish!!

 

All in all, it was such an awesome weekend with family and our first camping experience as a family of four.  It was definitely an adventure.  And of course we rounded out our last summer weekend with a trip to the beach!