Camping, er... stinks!

As I stated previously, Nate & I took Olivia camping overnight. We had a grand old time--for the most part. We arrived at the campground early evening and had no problem getting set up. We decided to take a swim right away, at which time I got out my camera. Livvie looked adorable in her little swimsuit with matching coverup! I turned my camera on... black screen, reading, "Change battery." Shoot! O well, there'll be other trips!

We decided to go swimming right away, which felt SO great. The water was cool, but not freezing. Olivia liked the water at first, but she got cold. We didn't stay very long. Back to the campsite, where we changed and ate... hot dogs over our lovely fire.

Then, we decided to check out one of the hiking trails. Olivia settled into the backpack and fell asleep almost immediately! Poor baby had slept all of one hour all day! Well, we got less than a quarter mile down the trail and began to get eaten alive. Oops, forgot the bug spray. We turned right around and went back. I tried putting Olivia to bed, but as soon as I set foot into the tent, kazam!--her eyes popped open!

We sat around the fire for awhile, and Livvie kept bucking sleep. Nate even took her for a drive (a first for us!), but even that didn't work. When Olivia decided to go to sleep, Nate & I gazed at the stars (I know you're thinking, "How romantic!" Actually, Nate was determined to see a satellite, and I figured there'd be no nice conversation or rummy until I helped him find one.) We had a couple s'mores, too. On a side note, I shall never eat another s'more unless it has been smeared with peanut butter. Yummy!

Well, we thought it'd be a good idea to attach the rainfly to the tent, to avoid being drenched by morning. This, by the way, is my chief complaint about camping... you're always damp. Anyway, stick with me here; it's about to get interesting. So we were trying to get the rainfly attached without disturbing the Princess. We came around the corner of the tent, and Nate's light flitted toward the Jeep... hmmm.... yep, a white-striped animal with a fluffy tail waddled beneath the Jeep.

Well, this part of the story dragged on and on. The skunks (yes, plural) would not leave us alone. Just when we thought they had gone on down the trail, we turned around and almost stepped on one. At one point, we really thought they were going to spray, so I darted in--TOWARD them!--and snatched Livvie from the tent.



The owners of the campsite told us just to leave them alone, so we figured our best bet was to get inside the tent and stay there, quietly. We weren't really tired, so we planned on bringing some cards inside. By this time, Olivia was started to get restless, so I began the process--again!--of putting her to sleep. But she's got the sniffles and a little cough (ah, teething!), and she had a hard time. She kept squawking and coughing, and Nate kept spotting them. At one point, Nate suddenly shouted to me, "Karen, don't move!" And then I heard them running around not 2 feet away. Talk about freaked out! I had just lay Olivia down and was patting her back. She started moving around but thankfully didn't cry or cough right then.

Well, we didn't play cards, and I didn't even get to brush my teeth. I had to just eat a little toothpaste--yuck. It was a terrible night. On top of the skunk scare, it got downright chilly, and none of us had brought warm clothes. Despite the rainfly, it was very damp, and we all tossed and turned all night. But true to form, Olivia woke promptly at 7, smiling and happy! We just relaxed around the fire this morning, while Olivia took a 2-HOUR NAP, and left after lunch.




And we even got in a few hands of rummy.