labor day camping: the good, the bad and the ugly

over labor day weekend we went camping in estes park. there were definitely some good moments. like seeing this elk right in front of us. we had to wait while he crossed the road before we could pass.

other good moments: yummy tinfoil dinners, s'mores, playing uno, hanging out around the campfire and being there with the rawlings (i love having them live in colorado)

logan loved playing with the pebbles and getting completely dirty

and of course the hike up to 3 beautiful lakes was good





so what was bad and ugly, you might ask?
well it was all thanks to this little guy

[ok, he was the bad. i think i can take credit for the ugly (see picture above from the hike). i just don't look cute if i don't get ready]

sure, he looks cute, but man was he bad! he wouldn't take his afternoon nap but i wasn't too worried because i assumed he would sleep on the drive up to estes. but he refused. so by the time we got the tent set up it was definitely bedtime for the little dude. he slept for maybe an hour and a half and woke up screaming. apparently he just needed a little power nap and he was ready to party. since it was pretty cold and logan kicks off all blankets, we decided to have him sleep with us. it worked wonderfully on our last camping trip and was even fun (nothing like snuggling together as a family). this time that was not the case. not too long after we went to bed he started screaming! we were in a KOA campsite and it was real close quarters with all the other campers. after trying unsuccessfully to get logan to stop screaming we knew we couldn't stay there and wake everyone else up. so from 12:30-1:00 am we cruised estes park (not much was happening). logan fell asleep in the car for about 10 minutes and we decided to give it one more try before heading home. i guess he just needed another power nap because he was ready to play. he spent the next hour or so crawling around us (while dave and i attempted to sleep), poking at my face, playing the drums on my sleeping bag and whatever else he could figure out. i thought maybe if i ignored him it would stop being fun and he would go to sleep, but apparently i don't think like a 1 year old. when dave finally heard me say in exasperation, "logan LAY DOWN" he grabbed him and pinned him down in his sleeping bag. logan must have finally gotten tired enough because he actually went to sleep. dave spent the next couple of hours sleeping carefully (as in badly) and trying not to move or wake up logan, who eventually woke up around 6:30. needless to say, it wasn't our best night of camping. as i type it, it doesn't sound as bad as it felt. but there is something totally unnerving about a screaming baby that you can't get to stop and it is magnified 200% when it is in the middle of the night (and especially when you're not at home). even with all the good and the fun, it will most likely go down in our memory as a bad camping trip. hopefully next time will be better (good thing we have until next summer to mentally prepare for it)!

after being totally exhausted (as in, i can't remember the last time i was so tired), our labor day was totally laborless! aahh! we slept in, went out to breakfast (probably one of our favorite things to do) and laid around watching "veronica mars" (our latest tv addiction thanks to netflix and the ability to watch instantly) until we went to a bbq with friends and went to bed early! it felt like a holiday and i loved just hanging out with dave non-stop. in fact, whenever i get to spend so much time with him i go through withdrawals when real life sets back in. that was the case with tuesday. i missed him like crazy. when's our next 3 days weekend?!!