Camping!

I've finally caught up to when we left for our camping trip. It was Julie's first time camping and we had a blast. We learned a lot about traveling with her too, which will help us plan for our trip to China. Specifically, we learned that we should bring a bunch of items that Julie associates with home to help her through the rough spots of being away. She broke down several times the first day of our trip, but each time she was consoled by something from home. Even when she wasn't upset, she was quite delighted to see items from home, even something as simple as one of her spoons. The first time we realized this important truth was on the drive to the campground. It was a long drive. Within an hour of our destination Julie started screaming and reaching for me to get her out of her seat. I started to sing to her but it only made things worse (that seemed very unusual to us, since she loves when I sing). We pulled over and I took her out, but she just kept looking around and crying. We think she realized we weren't going home and she was pretty upset about it. Larry broke out the portable DVD player and hooked it up in the car. We brought it with us "just in case" and we're so glad we did (thank you Grammy for the gift!). As soon as Julie saw her video playing she started struggling to get back into her seat. The first word that came out of her mouth was "home!" That was when we really understood what was going on with her. She was just so excited to have a piece of home at that moment and we were relieved to be able to give it to her. I'm really glad we went on this trip before attempting the big one to China. Here are some pictures from the beginning of our adventure.

Our campsite (#200).


Julie sleeping in the tent.


Chef Larry getting ready to cook scrambled eggs (that's what's in the plastic bag). Actually, he made a dish from my Girl Scout days called California Egg Crackle. It is a mix of eggs, bacon and cheez-its. It's really quite good!


Breakfast!


Got milk?


Snuggling in the hammock.