Sleeping with the Wildlife

I’m a pretty big camping guy and enjoy primitive camping, especially. The more primitive the better for me. I enjoy having to hike in several hours to get to the campsite and having to hike to filter water from a stream. I also enjoy camping in inclement weather. Jenny thinks I’m more than a little crazy, but she has come to enjoy camping with me anyway. We hadn’t been camping since Olivia was born and had been waiting to find the right time when she was the right age and the weather would not be too cold or too hot at night. So when some friends of ours invited us to a Memorial Day picnic at nearby McKinney Falls State Park we decided to give camping with Olivia a try. The park is so close that I’m not exactly sure if it is even outside the Austin city limits, but it is a really nice park. It turned out that with all of the rain they had closed the primitive campsites but they had cancellations in the ‘normal’ campsites with electrical and water hookups. A site that you could park next to with a fire ring, picnic table, and lantern hanging pole sounded like a good starter campsite for Olivia and 7 month pregnant Jenny. We figured that we’d give it a try and if it didn’t go well, we could just pack up and drive home.

The picnic was a good time with great friends and food. It rained a little bit right before while we were setting up our camp, but then it stayed dry while we were out. We had a great time and then hung out at our campsite for a while with the hosts of the picnic, Alan and Emily. Bedtime was really the main concern of the whole trip. We planned to get Livy to sleep by walking her around in the stroller or a quick trip in the truck. That worked and Jenny laid Livy in the tent asleep. It was pretty late when we decided to go to bed and it had started to rain a bit. Jenny crawled into our cozy two-person tent next to Livy and she opened her eyes a little and acted like she was going to go back to sleep. Next, I crawled in and Livy squinted at me for a moment, and then it was over. Apparently when I’m around it must be play-time. She was wide-eyed and there wasn’t much we could do about it. Throughout the rest of the night she took turns tormenting us as we tried to sleep and also tried to ignore her thinking that she would eventually go to sleep. But she was as happy as could be walking around the tent and rolling around in the sleeping bags. Not to leave Red out in the rain, Red even got to sleep inside at our feet so Livy included visits to her as well. At one point when Jenny thought she was getting more than her fair share of Livy’s "affection," which included getting fingers stuck up her nose and hair pulled, she was going to roll over and let me have it. But when she rolled over she saw that I wasn’t getting much sleep either as Livy had climbed on my back and was riding me like a pony. In the end, I think Red was the only one who really got any sleep.

We had a good time though and stayed pretty dry. The tent’s rain fly does need to be resealed, but that little two-person tent has seen a lot of use, including several trips in Switzerland and Germany. We might have to upgrade to a bigger tent soon, though. Jenny did good with the choice of campsites as we were on high-ground and several campsites were under water in the morning. We ate two of Livy’s favorites for breakfast - scrambled eggs and powdered donuts. Then we hiked around a bit and went to see the upper falls, pictured below. Some people told us that they had walked across the falls the day before so I think the girls look pretty good considering they camped out in that weather.

Sponsor Olivia in her 2nd Texas Alliance for Life Walk

It’s that time of year again and Olivia is getting her walking shoes ready for her second annual fund-raising endeavor! She’s going to participate as a walker (and this year she can actually walk!) in the Texas Alliance for Life "Walk for Life" on June 23rd at Sun City in Georgetown (just north of Austin). To sponsor her with a one time, tax-deductible donation, click here: Sponsor a Walker. You can make a donation right away using your credit card or make a pledge to be billed later. To join the fun and participate as a walker, click here: Walker Registration. Either way, I hope you will support this worthy cause. Olivia will be walking with hundreds of Texans from dozens of churches to promote the Culture of Life and to raise funds for life-saving programs and agencies in the Austin community. 100% of the proceeds will support peaceful, legal efforts by Texas Alliance for Life to protect mothers and children and to promote respect for all human life. To learn more about them, visit their home page here: Texas Alliance for Life. All donations are tax deductible. Thanks for your support!