Silas Jones: October 2010

Last weekend we took advantage of the beautiful weather and took Silas camping. It was our first camping experience since he's been mobile and I've got to say, it went pretty well. We purchased a new, larger tent that could accommodate our air mattress and his pack-n-play crib. We spent a lot of time talking with him about camping and showing him pictures of tents to the point that he was almost frothing at the mouth with excitement about getting to sleep in a tent himself.

We decided to try out a new (to us) campground near the Shenandoah National Park in Luray, Virginia. It was nice, although it seemed like everyone had the same idea we had of taking advantage of the mild weekend weather and nearly all the campsites were occupied with other folks. Silas, however, being a social butterfly, very much enjoyed getting to hang out with all "the peoples."

On our way up to Luray, we stopped and went apple-picking. Although, it turns out that the drought we've been having has somewhat devastated the area's apple crops and there wasn't much picking going on, sadly. We did buy a half-bushel of very delicious pre-picked apples, so it wasn't a total loss. We were also able to pick our own pumpkins, which Silas really enjoyed. Particularly when he figured out he could ride in the pumpkin wagon and carry his very own Silas-sized pumpkin. Despite the intense amount of planning that went into coordinating this weekend getaway, I forgot our camera. So, all we have are shots from Matt's iphone, sadly.

So, I'm not supposed to eat the apples with worms on them?

Before heading over to our campsite, we stopped at the legendary Apple House for some yummy sandwiches and even yummier apple doughnuts. Seriously, people, these things are worth driving an hour or so outside of DC for. They are that amazing.

We checked into our campsite after lunch on Saturday, and after being warned that there was a mama bear and two cubs on the property, we were told to enjoy our stay. We set the tent up and tried to get Si to take a nap, but, not surprisingly, he wasn't super stoked about falling asleep. We finally strapped him to my back in our trusty Ergo and went for a hike along the river, which knocked him right out.

Welcome to the Bat Cave

We had a blast that evening--running around, looking at bugs, throwing rocks, and jumping in and out of the tent. We grilled hotdogs for dinner and ate apples. Silas had his first s'more, which was a huge hit.

Pretty tasty

Mo' p'ease

After dinner, we read his books by the fire and dressed him in footie pajamas and a thick fleece and put him to bed by 7:30, covered in a thick flannel blanket. While he seemed pretty warm through the night, Matt and I froze our tails off. If there was an olympic medal for spooning, I'm pretty confident that Matt would have won it that night. In addition, I awoke around midnight convinced that I was hearing a growling bear just outside of our tent. I shook Matt awake in order to discuss our options and after listening for a few minutes, Matt announced that there was no bear--it was just the guy in the campsite next to us snoring. Although I remain staunch in my position that the noise I heard did not sound human, Matt's theory (or exhaustion) generally won out and we fell back asleep. Given that we weren't eaten in the night (nor was anyone nearby), it seems that Matt's hypothesis wasn't totally crazy.

Si woke a little earlier than normal--but perhaps that was due to the fact that I also forgot his overnight diapers and he was soaked and shivering. We all laid in our bed under the covers and sang songs until about 7:45 when we got up to make breakfast. We drank coffee, ate eggs, bacon, and apple donuts at our little picnic table outside the tent, which Silas seemed to really enjoy. After breakfast we spent about an hour throwing rocks into the river, which I'm pretty confident Silas could do all day long. We then packed everything up and headed back to DC in time to hang out with friends Sunday night.