Memorial Day

We had a fantastic Memorial Day! Every year (well, almost every year) we go camping on Memorial Day. This year we had a lot of fun. Well, we always have fun, but this year was special because it was Grace's first camping trip! We were a little nervous about how she would handle it all. Actually, she did a pretty good job. We left on Friday morning. I went with the owners of the property and Brian came with friends later. It didn't take us long to get there. Grace did pretty well with the long car ride. I just kept playing her music over and over and over again. I had a bag of toys next to me and I would hand them back to her at intervals. I also had snacks and water I would offer her. It kept her busy. We set up camp and Grace loved to explore her tent. We had our sleeping tent and then we set up a smaller tent near the cooking area for her to play in safely. That night she went to bed normal time, and she slept really well.

Saturday the girls went to garage sales. I got Grace a couple of cute toys. Someone had been to Mardi Gras and I bought her some beads. There was a cute little back pack, too. We just hung out at the camp the rest of the day. On Sunday we had a picnic at a nearby park. It also had a war memorial with a WWll tank. The kids had a blast climbing on the tank. I took lots of really great pictures. The men went to play golf and the women went back to camp. Grace refused to take a nap. I even put her to bed late, and she still refused to sleep! Once she did fall asleep, she slept well for about four hours. She woke up around one in the morning. I woke up because my mattress had gone flat. I put her crib mattress (she was in a port-a-crib to keep her in place...) and tried to sleep on that. I tried to bring her in bed with us, but she just wanted to play. Finally, I wrapped her all up and put her back in the crib and prayed for her to go back to sleep. She woke up again around six. Monday we packed everything up and headed home. She refused to sleep in the car, but the minute we arrived home and I put her to bed, she zonked out!

Some new families came with us this time, and the children are in love with Grace. All of them say "she is just a little peanut!" I really appreciate them being there, because they really helped keep an eye on Grace when I was busy cooking or cleaning up. She absolutely loved all the attention, and she loved that they had an endless supply of energy when pushing her on the swing!

Grace had a great time, and she loved being outside. Other than the sleeping (which I now know to be better prepared for...) I'd say it was very successful.