Bobby's first camping trip

Bobby went on his first extra-womb camping trip this weekend.  Before you get too impressed, let me qualify that statement: this was about the cushiest "camping" trip there ever was.  We went out to my Gramps' farm (our favorite place) near Cooperstown, NY, for a visit.  My grandfather's wife's granddaughter and her two daughters Novelyn (5) and Vianne (6 months) were visiting as well.  (Ten points to anyone who can give a name to the relation between Bobby and the girls.)  Novelyn was dying to camp out, so we all did.  Just how cushy was this camping trip?

We ate a delicious nutritious dinner down at the house before heading up the mountain to the campsite about an hour before dark.  Did we hike to the site?  Um, no, of course not.  We drove up in the Jeep and the 6-wheeler.  We set up tents while the babies hung out.  My Gramps built a fire which he started using a blow torch.  After dark, Ben searched for marshmallow roasting sticks with the aid of a propane lantern that lit up the woods like a parking lot.  We slept on an air mattress.  There's an outhouse complete with toilet paper.  I could go on... "How much time do you have?"

The muddy area surrounding the pond by our campsite (I didn't really take any pictures of the surroundings this trip) was completely covered by brand new frogs.  I've seen pollywogs with legs, but I have never seen actual frogs this tiny.  Sadly it was a little too dark and Novelyn wasn't quite still enough for me to get a good photo, but you can get the idea.

Here's Bobby when I put him down to sleep in our tent.  It ended up being too cold for him to sleep like this so he spent the majority of the night in bed with us.

A shot of the moon just after it rose over the mountain:

Novelyn playing with the glow stick we brought for her:

And here's Bob, the only one of us who was well-rested, coming down the hill the morning after:

We can't wait to go do it again.