Along came the kids...

Our oldest daughter had her first camping trip in our backyard with her cousin. They both loved it and sixteen years later they are both still camping. Our second daughter, however, started out not liking camping so much. On the date of what would have been her first camping trip, she got sick just before we left and ended up staying home with her Grandma. When she finally got to go she would never stay in her sleeping bag. I would wake up to find this little ice-cube of a girl sleeping curled up next to the wall of the tent on the bare floor. From then on she had to sleep with me, in my sleeping bag, so I could keep her warm. Which meant I didn't get much sleep. She was also very particular about the temperature of her bottle. It couldn't be to hot or too cold. She needed it warm. Do you know how hard it is to get a bottle warm first thing in the morning while camping? Needless to say, a friend of mine had burnt baby formula on the dash of his car after one attempt! She eventually grew to love camping as much as her sister and I... But, it did take awhile! Our youngest, the only boy, started camping at a young age as well. I've learned a lot over the years so things have been easier for him and for us. We also moved up from a tent to a pop-up (more on that later) with a microwave!