Another Trip to Crescent

We set out for Hanley's 4th camping trip on Wednesday afternoon in celebration of Independence Day. It was going to be a 4 day camp out which would make for Hanley's longest camping trip yet.

We beat Loren to Crescent Lake, picked out a site and set up shop. The mosquitoes were thick, like nothing I had ever seen at Crescent. Within 3 minutes, I had more than a dozen bites. Thankfully the mosquitoes were leaving Cody and Hanley alone- I guess I just have extra sweet blood!

Since the forecast was expected to be nice, we left the elk tent at home and roughed it in our little tent.  The first night was great (other than the mosquitoes-which mostly stayed at bay the rest of the weekend).

Thursday was a busy day.  We took Hanley out on the boat for the 1st time.  He HATED his new life jacket. He screamed bloody murder when we put it on him. I can't really blame him because it was so tight at the neck, it was practically choking him. (When writing this I asked Cody for better words to explain how bad it was choking him - he came back with "Whats the point of keeping your head above water when you can't breath?"). Yes, it was that bad. Either our kid has a huge dome piece or that life vest has a major design flaw. So, we spent the morning breaking the law and let him cruise without it. He loved the boat as along as he wasn't wearing his vest. (Side note:First thing we did when we got back into town was exchange his life vest for a new one. Hopefully he can tolerate the new one so we can take him out on the boat when we go to East Lake for my birthday). Later that day, Amie and Tyler came up for the day.  We hung out down by the water for a couple hours before the guys went out fishing. They stayed for dinner then had to head out before the tunnel closed at 8pm.  It was great to spend the day with them (and the wee one on the way!).

 

 

 

Thursday night was hell. Hanley was up ALL NIGHT.  The temperature dropped Thursday night and I think it just got too cold for him and to top it off, he is teething. At 4:30am, when we were completely out of options, we went on a midnight family drive to Davis Lake.  Despite being absolutely exhausted, it was a beautiful drive. We even saw a couple deer. By the time we got back to camp, Hanley fell asleep. We packed him back into the tent where he slept until sometime after 8am.

We did some exploring on Friday, Hanley took a much needed 2 hour nap, I got in some reading and a nap myself, the guys went fishing, and Kim finally joined us for the weekend.

Hanley and Opa reading the map before heading out to explore Summit Lake

Friday night was round 2 of hell. Again, no sleep for any of us.

We had a great day on Saturday (which included a visit from Uncle Ole and Aunt Cathy) but decided to pack up and go home after dinner...not wanting to chance another sleepless night.  We hated to cut the weekend short but knew it was the best thing for Hanley. He needed the sleep as much as we did.

It turns out, we made the right choice.  We got home and he slept through the night.

I know it sounds crazy but this was actually probably my favorite camping trip so far this year. The weather was beautiful, Hanley was so much fun during the day, and we got to watch him explore the water. I have taken my book camping with me every single time and never read more than a paragraph until this trip.  It was by far the most relaxing time I have had (excluding the whole lack of sleep and leaving early).