Where is Kyler?

Makenna loves her brother and when asked what any of her baby dolls' names are she says "Kyler".  So it gets pretty confusing around the house as to which Kyler is crying, needs to be changed, or is hungry:-)  So can you spot the real Kyler?

(Kyler thought it was pretty funny being surrounded by dolls)

Dogwood Camping

Determined not to wait as long with Kyler as we did with Makenna, we decided to go camping.  My mom and Jim had reservations to Dogwood Campground up near Arrowhead and with it only being an hour's drive away from our house we decided that this would be a good time to go.  We never would have dreamed of tent camping with Makenna at this age, but Kyler is a lot more mellow and only wakes up once or twice a night to eat, unlike Makenna's every two hour eating schedule at 2-months of age.  First of all, it is crazy how much stuff we have to bring for one night of tent camping with two young kids:-)  I thought for sure we were going to have to strap one of us to the roof to fit everything in, but fortunately for us we didn't have to bring the big ice chest since we were only going for one night.  Next time I think we will have to get more creative with packing the car.

The drive up wasn't too bad except that we had to take a detour for road paving, which luckily wasn't too far out of the way, and Makenna pretty much said the equivalent of "are we there yet?" ("Please can we go camping") the whole ride there.  I would say she was excited!  We stopped over in Arrowhead for food from McDonalds and then finally headed out to the campground to get it set up.  Our camp site was set away from many other neighbors which gave me peace of mind with a baby that was sure to awaken at least once to eat in the middle of the night.

When we got there it was a little trying setting up our behemoth of a tent while trying to watch where Makenna was running to and listening to poor Kyler scream his head off because he was cold and nobody was holding him.  Once we got the tent up and Kyler got fed and warmed up he fell asleep right away and was able to be laid down in the tent for the night.  That boy hardly cries but he HATES being cold!!

Makenna stayed up for a while that night but finally decided to tell us that she was tired and wanted to go to sleep in the tent.  Sure that she wanted to "go to sleep" because she wanted to go in the tent and run around, we made her stay up a little while just so we could be sure that she would actually sleep when she got in the tent and not run around and wake up Kyler.  I know, I know, parents of the year award right here:-)  Both kids slept great through the night.  Kyler only woke up twice to eat and went back to sleep right away.  Makenna woke up once when Kyler did and I am not entirely sure whether she was all there or not because she came over to me and started jabbering on about how she was a big girl.  I gently told her that it was still night time and I went and tucked her back in and she fell asleep instantly.

The next morning we ate our breakfast and played.

Kyler was getting fussy from being held so much so I put him in his travel bed on our picnic table and he was a "happy camper":-)

Makenna and Toby fenced with sticks.

Then my mom showed Makenna how to make a house with rocks.

(Finding the Perfect Rocks)

(Building the house complete with chairs and a doorbell)

(Makenna finding a stick that she could pretend was the lock for her door)

Makenna LOVED her house!!  She could have played in it for days.  Then we went on a walk around the campground to locate some other campsites that we would want to get for the next time that we go up to Dogwood.  And we had to stop off at the amphitheater to let Makenna dance and sing on stage.  At first she was hesitant but then she got into it and asked for music to be turned on to dance to.

It was too cute!  We had several people walking by start clapping for her, it was really sweet.  Makenna felt like a star!

Kyler fell alseep on our little campground walk so I got to just sit and relax when we got back to camp with my sleeping baby.

Then it was time to get our tent torn down and the car packed back up.  It wasn't nearly as difficult taking down the tent because my mom and Jim were there to entertain the kids:-)  We got home and bathed the kids from the layers of dirt that had accumulated on them and put them down for naps.  We were so glad that we did the overnight camping trip and know now in the future that camping is doable with two little ones.