Nicholas and I went camping for two nights this week with my parents and had a lot of fun. It was a great special big kid thing for him to do without Lizzie. And 2 nights was perfect. We got to do everything we wanted to do but we left while it was still exciting and before Nicholas could get too tired.
He did a great job with the work involved in camping, complaining a little but actually doing it all. He helped set up and take down the tent, collected kindling, dried when we washed dishes after each meal, and took trash to the dumpster.
We took a hike each of the two days we were there. The first day we scrapped our initial plan 1/4 mile in and explored around the closest pond (biggest pond I've ever seen--looked more like a lake to me) because Nicholas and I were both a little anxious about the thunder we could hear. Given that we got lost repeatedly the next day when we went in search of the old mill and quarry and the hike turned into over 3 hours (over 7 miles according to Dad's pedometer), it was probably a good thing that we changed plans the afternoon before.
Nicholas led the way almost the entire hike and in fact insisted on it, speeding up if anyone tried to even walk next to him. He was done about 2/3 of the way through but pushed through in impressive fashion.
Of course we also introduced Nicholas to cooking over the campfire, made s'mores each night (although Nicholas preferred just toasted marshmallows and by the end was barely heating them), and played cards.
We had some rain the first afternoon but it was perfect timing, coming after we had set up and were back from our hike but before we had started the fire or dinner prep. And so it was just fun to crowd under the tent awning and watch the rain. The threat of rain later led us to finish up our fire and s'mores early and move our card game into the tent when drops started falling but luckily that line of thunderstorms petered out and it never became more than a few drops.
Overall, he seemed to have a great time. And one thing he emphasized is that he had been scared about sleeping outside but once we had the tent set up and he had been inside it, he felt safe.
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