Anika's Introduction to Camping

The year was slipping away and we had still not taken Anika camping.  Parenting failure 101 for Alicia and I.  How is Anika to grow up resourceful, tough, and able to survive for weeks by herself alone in the wilderness if we don't expose her to the great outdoors and get started on teaching her how to do things like set up a tent and start a campfire with sticks and rocks?  And how could we say no to our dear small group friends, who invited us on their adventure to the not-so-far-away Interstate State Park?

October notwithstanding, we decided it was not too late to help Anika appreciate God's creation.  We did, however, pay dearly for our procrastination--in the form of sub-32-degree temperatures.  Luckily, Anika's long-term memory is at its weakest and she will have completely forgotten this year's freezing experience by the time we take our out next year.  That's what we keep telling ourselves anyway.  The next Grizzly Adams?  You decide.

This is Anika first thing in the morning.  As you can see, she is hardly her chipper self.  This look likely awaits all of our future, hair-brained family-vacation ideas.  I have no pictures, but Alicia and I caved and took Anika to a doughnut shop in town.  Great start to our teaching Anika how to camp.  But see the note above about weak long term memory--next year we effectively get to start over and she will have forgotten our weak willed trip to the warm doughnut store.    

Alicia and Anika at our campsite.  It was quite the view.  Anika was not impressed.  Just wondering why exactly she had to hang out in a big puff snow suit for twenty four hours in a row.  And where exactly were her rings?

It is now 9 a.m. and she's slowly starting to get used to looking like a giant marshmallow.  This uniform may make a second showing in the form of a certain October costume (stay tuned).  

This is Anika's tent within the tent.  Yes, she had a mini-tent that we put her in, inside our tent.  It is an Amy-Lee Harrington special and much better than lugging a pack n' play around.  It worked amazingly well.  We decided to keep her bundled up in light of the cold.  She hardly made a peep!  (Probably because she could't move.)  Needless to say, it was mighty cramped for Alicia and I inside our two and a half person tent.  We shared enough room for a half of a person.  

Close up of cozy Anika in her mini tent--she is pleased with the spaciousness.

This is our fearsome camping group (minus Dylan who is taking the picture).  Anika eventually woke up and we did a bit of a hike along the river.  Having Anika as a little heater was delightful.  And once we started moving some, she reverted back to her normal, babbling self, entertained by the sounds and the leaves and the outdoors.

This was Anika's reaction after we told her that we were going home and she'd be sleeping in her crib again.  Next year, maybe Anika will be ready for a more rugged, national park, preferably sometime between the months of July and August.