The Finke Family

From June 24th to the 26th, we went camping in Cannon Falls, MN. We have gone camping with several other families every summer for as long as I can remember, and now there are more families as the “kids” grow up and bring their own families. We try to go to a different campsite every year – we usually go to state campgrounds, but this year, we went to a private campground that had a heated outdoor pool. This was great, because I think a lake might have still been a little chilly for Gabriel. He enjoyed climbing up and down the steps into the pool and throwing his ball around. As he was going down the steps backwards, he didn’t realize where the water started, and got a mouthful of water several times. He didn’t seem to mind though. He got frustrated with being held and wanted to go off on his own in the water (I’m sure you can guess how that went).

Heading to the pool wearing his floating swimsuit. (We took it off almost immediately because it was so awkward and kept riding up on his chin.)

We arrived at the campsite Thursday afternoon, and Chris went to work setting up our new 8 person, two-room cabin tent.

You may recall that last year Gabriel was three months old and slept in a clothes basket in our little “4-person” dome tent. This year, he has outgrown the clothes basket and we decided to bring the Pack ‘n’ Play which wouldn’t fit in our old tent. So, we got the biggest tent we could find. Chris loves it because he doesn’t have to duck his head inside, and we have lots of room to spread out our bags and food. There is a partition between the two “rooms” that can be pulled back to create one giant room.

Getting Gabriel to take naps was nearly impossible. There was simply too much to see and do and too many distractions. He took one good nap before we left on Thursday. I tried and tried to get him to nap on Friday until finally, in the late afternoon, my mom spent almost an hour with him in the tent before he finally konked out:

It was REALLY HOT in the tent, so mom turned on the little fan we brought along and also brought in my dad’s air machine to help drown out outside noises. He slept for a good two hours in this exact same position. As you can see, it’s a good thing we brought the Pack ‘n’ Play. I think he slept in it for maybe a total of 4 hours.

On Saturday, we went tubing down the Cannon River. We covered Gabriel in sunscreen, put on a life vest, handed him to his auntie Laura in her tube, and he fell asleep almost immediately. He didn’t wake up until we were nearly done with our relaxing 2 hour float down the river. The following pictures were taken after we walked back to our car, shortly after he woke up (hence the crazy hair).

Our first night, sleeping did not go well. Gabriel went to sleep just fine in his Pack ‘n’ Play around 9 or 10. Chris and I went to bed about midnight. At 1am, Gabriel was awake and crying. Chris and I took turns trying to settle him down and get him back to sleep. Every time we would lower him into the Pack ‘n’ Play, he would wake up and start crying. I tried to just let him cry for a little (which is what we would do at home), but after taking a trip to the bathroom, I realized I could hear him yelling a quarter mile away. I decided that wasn’t the best approach for the comfort of the rest of the guests at the campground, so I held him with me on my cot from about 3-5. At 5, it started to get light out, so I woke Chris up and told him it was his turn. I suggested he take Gabriel for a ride in the car to get him to go to sleep. So Chris drove him to a gas station and got some donuts, then drove back to the campground and they both slept in the car until 7. By that time, grandma was up and could take him off our hands. We both went back to sleep until around 10.

The second night I didn’t mess with the Pack ‘n’ Play; I just had him lay beside me on the ground. This approach seemed to work a little better (although not as comfortable for me). Luckily (for us), my dad had trouble sleeping that night and was walking around at 5am when Gabriel woke up. I heard my dad say “Hey little buddy”, so I grabbed Gabriel’s shoes and his milk cup and basically shoved him out the door. (I was still half asleep and not thinking very clearly.) Then Chris and I slept in until around 9. I don’t know what we’d do without the grandparents (probably not go camping I guess).

We made several different meals besides hot dogs. One new thing we tried was grilled pizzas with fresh mozzarella. (We used pita bread for the crust.)

The mozzarella was great, but next time I think we need to add something to the sauce to give it more flavor. Chris also made omelets one morning, and my mom made pancakes and bacon the other morning. We made cheesy potatoes for another meal and also chicken and shrimp kabobs.

Friday evening some storms came through. We were concerned about severe weather, so we drove into town and hung out at the grocery store for an hour or so until the worst of the storm had passed.

We left for home late Saturday afternoon. Everyone else stayed until Sunday, but I had to work due to quarter-close. We had a fun time and made many great memories that we can look back on.

Here’s a few more pics:

Getting carried across the threshold!

Only grandma can get away with letting him eat beef jerky and a lime.