Family of camping hikers….in Oakland, yes, that is Oakland!

We decided to try camping again after a year, while we still could. I’m not too pregnant and there isn’t a newborn yet around, so we teamed up with Matt, Abby and Evan and made the trip to Lake Chabot in Oakland.

Nestled about 40 minutes away from our house, in the Oakland Hills, is actually a very nice camp ground. Maisy and Evan had a hoot playing together around the tents and gathering sticks. Smores were a highlight!

Matt’s culinary creation- Bacon Smores

It had all the familiar sounds of home…. airplanes over head, BART whirring by, cars on the freeway and even the occasional siren blaring. What this camp site had that home doesn’t are raccoons trying to eat your marshmallows and the same inquisitive raccoons playing with your potty. If this wasn’t enough to keep a camper awake, surely a 2 year old would be!

Hanging out in and by a tree

The trip was going well. Maisy went down to sleep in her Pack and Play all alone at a respectable 9 o’clock. We thought- GREAT, this could work…. fast forward to about 3am when Maisy woke up and wanted nothing more to do with sleep. Ugh. We brought her down with us in the sleeping bags and she’d settle for a bit and then try to strike up another conversation or a wiggle worm fest. It was quite a challenge to keep her quiet and still. After two and a half long hours of being kicked by Maisy on the outside and kicked by baby girl on the inside, Maisy finally settled down for a nap at which time my hips and back started ACHING. We “slept” in until almost 9 when we heard coffee being brewed. Ahhhh… rescue!

Still big and bright eyed after a night with no sleep, waiting to take a hike

After a delicious pancake and bacon breakfast we packed up and decided to take a hike. It was a 3 mile hike, that somehow seemed much longer. It must have been all the hills! I carried baby girl, while Todd had Maisy on his back. Maisy and Evan enjoyed being in their packs and our picnic lunch.

After our hike, Maisy was pooped, so we headed home for an afternoon nap.

Too Tired

What a great way to spend a beautiful Friday evening and Saturday day- with great friends and some adventure!

Hikers over Lake Chabot

In baby news had a doctor’s appointment Friday morning for my Glucose testing, regular clinical labs and my thyroid. All tests came back within normal range. The doctor’s appointment was quick and Maisy got to help hear the baby’s heartbeat again. Dr. Perry says baby girl has a perfectly strong heartbeat. She did say that the baby is measuring a couple of weeks smaller than usual, but she’s no worried. I wish I felt small! At 26 weeks, I’m feeling bigger and bigger, but not super uncomfortable yet. I’m feeling great actually.

More later-

Much love, Todd, Becky, Maisy and baby girl

We decided it was high time we took Maisy camping.

My tent!

T he car was packed and we were heading out to Mt. Diablo near Walnut Creek after Maisy’s afternoon nap on Saturday. We were approaching the camp’s south gate from the winding road in when Todd looked back and said, “Uh-oh, you gotta pull over, she’s car sick.” And sure enough the poor little Maisy was- all over herself! We took her out, cleaned her up and showed her the very pretty valley below and after a bit she was ready to continue the journey, which we took VERY slow.

Mommy, I don’t feel so good

W e arrived at the camp ground at Live Oak near Rock City in Mt. Diablo state park and picked our campsite and started setting up. Maisy ate her dinner and we all enjoyed looking around. We got a big 4 person tent that is tall enough to stand in and to fit Maisy’s pack n play in. We thought the whole thing would just go off without a hitch. As we were putting her to bed we realized we forgot two very key items- Her lovey and her blankie! We even wrote out a list, so we wouldn’t forget anything and of course these items weren’t on it, because we KNEW we had to bring those. Lesson Learned! We did remember her big Blue Pooh that is a fuzzy warm bear outfit- so at least she’d be nice and cozy.

Todd the tent builder

Maisy was not happy being put to bed, so she got to stay up and hang out with us around the campfire. She finally fell asleep exhausted in her font pack that I was wearing her in. At 11 we decided it was time for us all to retire. We crept into the tent and set her down in her crib and she stayed asleep, for a whole 45 minutes before the crying started again. Poor thing! Nothing worked. Finally as I was rocking her from my sleeping bag she fell asleep. The trick was convincing her that my sleeping bag was her lovey. So I carefully placed her between Todd and me on the floor of the tent and we slept again, for a while, until she woke up once more very confused and again, I’d convince her that my sleeping bag was her lovey and she’d drift off. This happened about 3 or 4 times. Luckily she didn’t wake up for good until 8:30am. We were all pretty tired though! There was also another baby in the camp ground that helped share the tears. I was glad we weren’t the only folks going through the whole adventure. Todd was joking later saying, that it was so cute how we actually thought we were going to be able to play the game of scrabble we had brought along. We both just laughed at that!

I’m so tired, where’s doggy?

In the morning we broke down camp and headed to Rock City, a trail of very cool very old (like 45 million years old) sandstone rock formations. We walked around there for a bit and then decided to head home.

Rock City Rocks

We still had a great time and would definitely do it again- but would be very careful to remember all of the crucial items!

Maisy had a big day yesterday, she went on her first longish bike ride and a camping trip- so we are taking today slow and easy.

Much love and more later- Todd, Becky and Maisy