French Creek Test Run

no this is not a post about some incredibly insane marathon through the muddy woods... this weekend melissa and aubrey and i decided to go for a safe and easy (we could always just drive home) trial camping evening at one of the campsites at french creek state park. we arrived at the campground just as it was getting dark and quickly discovered one of the hardest parts about taking a crawler camping is that they want to crawl around in the dirt and eat everything they shouldn't (dirt, leaves and salamanders)... needless to say the first thing we did was set up the tent and throw some toys in. my biggest fear was that she would cry all night and the "neighboring" campers would gang up on us and throw us in the lake. as it turned out they were louder than we were... college kids and their partying! i disapprove! GRRRMP! (did that sound old and crotchety enough?)... i digress. getting aubrey to go down was the tricky part but it didn't prove to be any harder that some nights at home. so it was a great time. aubrey went to bed and melissa and i got to sit by the fire in the crisp fall air and actually have a romantic cup of coffee and conversation. it was awesome. (by the way my wife is the best ever because it was all HER idea!) our next concern was that aubrey has never really shared a bed with mom and dad and we weren't sure how asleep she would stay once she woke up and saw we were there (which happened a few time during the night). but all was well and it turned out to be a fun night and morning... so for all you who read and have little ones, take them camping!... don't worry, it has been tested and it's worth it.