camping with kaspar? or no camping?

So, that's my dilemma. We’ve been talking about a potential camping trip for a couple of months now, but as the date is approaching, I’m loosing sleep over the logistics of it all. Yeah, I have to admit that I’m not looking forward to camping with my very active one year old, who still spends 90% of his day on his hands and knees and who tends to pick up everything he finds mildly interesting (including ants, pebbles, sticks) and puts everything in his mouth! I can just imagine it… All clothes will be completely dirty by the end of day one. I’ll be chasing the lad through dirt and grass and puddles pretty much the entire weekend. Yeah, he’s really not into spending too much time in his stroller anymore! And what would we do at the end of the day? I think the good old fashioned spit on a hankie wont do the trick here. How many wet wipes would we need to wipe off a child, who’s been on all fours all day? At home, I sometimes have to run two baths to get him clean after a few hours in the back yard. This kid loves to get dirty!!! I wish we would have done the camping thing last year, while he was still a baby and could be carried everywhere. It sure would have been easier!

I fell really ill on Friday. In fact, I have not been able to hold down any food since Friday evening. Also had high fever for about 12 hours. So, I’ve slept for many hours during the day and during the night, for the last two days. But while insomnia (caused most likely by too much sleep during the day) was bothering me last night, I decided to check out the internet regarding my camping dilemma. You should try typing “camping with toddler” into google. Some amazing stories come up, yet not one of them gives me any peace of mind. There are horror stories about kids with allergies from bee stings to insect repellent and mosquito bites; warnings about kids eating poisonous plants; and general advice that parents should go camping only if they are prepared to spend most of the day on the move with a kid in a backpack (because most strollers are not made for wood paths!) and walking is the only way to keep a toddler off the ground. Basically the popular opinion is that camping with a toddler is extremely challenging (next to going to the moon, inventing the wheel and such), especially if you’re not a regular camper. And I cannot remember, when we went camping last, so, I don’t think we can count ourselves amongst ‘regular campers’.

So, while I’m nursing myself back to health and trying to spend time with Kaspar today, I will keep pondering this question about camping. I wonder if I have enough wisdom not to put myself through the cruelty of a whole week-end in the woods with Kaspar. Since Steve is absolutely set on this camping trip, I’m thinking, maybe I should send him camping with Kaspar and just have a weekend all to myself. Oh, how very tempting… if only I was not still nursing the kid.

bike ride

I was so bummed out yesterday that my digital had completely run out of juice. Kaspar had his first bike ride and I did not have a camera to take a picture with. I came close to digging out my SLR. Yes, I still own one of those! But then I figured it would probably be a year before I develop the film. I recently developed some film that I had shot about three years ago… how lazy we get in this digital age!

On Sunday we were invited for brunch at a friends house. I figured this was my chance to finally get Kaspar riding the bike. On Saturday morning I began to assemble his bike seat. It was still packed and sealed, brand new in a shiny cardboard box, given to us by good and wise (What an awesome gift for city dwellers!!!) friends – Laima & Uldis. Kaspar was out and about in the back yard, while I attempted to put together this contraption, and he quickly figured out that it was meant for him and that we were going ‘booo-boooo’. I think that might have had to do with the life size pictures of a kid on a bike that were visible on every side of the box, or perhaps just seeing my bike out got him excited, who knows… but my attempts at assembling this piece of equipment, which (as if life were not hard enough for parents!) came in 32 separate pieces, each sealed in an individual plastic pouch was put on hold indefinitely.

Well, I shall give credit, where credit is due – I’m no spring chicken when it comes to getting things done with a baby in tow. I’ll point out that I began to assemble this seat on SATURDAY morning, when in fact, I only wanted to use it on Sunday. Always thinking ahead, yup! That’s the only way to get somewhere these days! And then distractions such as a bucket full of water and a freshly dug up flower bed with some nice black dirt are much appreciated. An hour later I had the seat assembled (even if it was still on the ground, assembling the safety straps from the pictures in the manual was enough to merit an award!) and a baby dirty enough to need three baths. Well… c’est la vie!

By Sunday morning all the necessary bolts were tightened, all the parts were used up (Except for the paint protector rubber covers, which I’m still perplexed about!) and to the horror of my mother, we were ready to head out. You should have seen the joy in her face, when I discovered that I did not have any air in my tires. I don’t know what I had been thinking. Of course there would be no air in tires, if the bike had not been used for more then a year! Duh! But, I was not about to give up so easily. Not after all that labor of love… What do you think neighbours are for? Rita’s shades were open (which usually means she’s awake!), and she’s on her bike all the time, so I figured that she must have a bike pump! Knock, knock. It turned out that her little, funky looking bike pump was missing parts, but while we were trying to figure out if I can make it to the gas station four blocks down the street from us, across the street comes our favourite neighbour Astrida carrying something the size of a small backpack, which turned out to be an old air pump. It was one of those pumps, that can be plugged into the cigarette lighter thinggie, in the car, and when it turns on it makes a whole lot of noise. Awesome! The air gage was not working, but we managed to get plenty of air into the dilapidated tires and we were ready to roll. I thanked all the summoned neighbours for helping us out and off we went… my mom followed us a couple of blocks (Just to make sure Kaspar as not screaming for help!) while we got used to changing gears and picking up speed. Kaspar was so thrilled that he forgot all about having to pull the helmet off. He pursed his lips hummed like a little motor behind me, all the way to Kaiva’s house.

No new pictures... BESIDES, THE UPLOAD BUTTON DOES NOT SEEM TO BE WORKING! Argh!