Just like "Curious George"

We went camping at Portola Redwoods State Park this weekend with my friend Celisa and her family, just like in "Curious George Goes Camping". Anthony knew what camping was all about--eating marshmallows. We got out of the car and the first thing he asked was to roast marshmallows.

Unfortunately, it was a LONG time until we were ready for a campfire. First, Anthony had to help set up the tent after our picnic lunch. There was some banana slug exploration and squishing. Then we went on a hike to see "The Big Tree", a 1200 year old Coastal Redwood tree. It was about 1/4 mile each way. He walked about 2/3 of the way in (it was uphill) and trotted out on his own power. Then we went on another jaunt down to the creek to play. Boy was that fun! Daddy showed off his prowess skipping stones, EVERYONE threw rocks into the water and Anthony and Daddy waded in to play.

Grown-up dinner was fabulous. We did shrimp and pineapple (and spices) in foil packets and it was good. I'll remember the recipe for the future.

Then we finally roasted marshmallows. Anthony didn't want to get too close to the fire, it was hot, so Mama roasted it for him. He sure loved eating them, though. We let him eat three perfectly toasted marshmallows until I cut him off.

Bedtime was interesting. It took him a LONG time to settle down and fall asleep and then he woke up in the night. We snuggled him in with us but there was little sleeping to be had. My favorite was when he started demanding to sleep in a tent! (We all wanted to be sleeping in the tent at that point.) Morning was even better--he was up early, discovered he could unzip the tent himself and next thing we knew he was OUTSIDE the tent in his pj's calling, "People, where are you?" Fortunately I realized pretty quickly that he wasn't in the tent with us and scrambled out to take him for a walk so that everyone else could sleep.

I think we're all a little sleep deprived, but I'm up for more camping again, I think!