Babies Don't Keep: Camping con Bebé

I've often referred to myself as an "avid camper", but considering it had been over a year since my tent had seen daylight, I've had to humbly drop that tagline. We finally made it out last weekend and joined up with some fellow World Race alumni for a Houston-area camp out. It was a gorgeously clear and sunny weekend, with a nippy low of 22°.

The little bugger turned out to be a fantastic camper... can that sort of thing be genetic? He didn't really do much, which can be said for most 3-month-olds, but he was happy being along for the ride. He wore his usual grin all weekend and seemed unfazed by the chilly weather and lack of modern conveniences. I was inspired last spring when my cousin took her 2-month-old camping in March, and enlisted her advice. She recommended leaving the cloth diapers at home (disposables keep them a little drier which prevents them from getting too cold), and co-sleeping to keep them warm overnight.

I was a bit timid to put him in my uber-tiny cocoon sleeping bag, but we felt that would still be a smarter decision than putting him in the generously sized bag with his dad who sleeps like a log and has been known to [unintentionally] punch me in the face in the middle of the night. He agreed that we might end up with a pancake for a child and that it would be best if the little guy slept with me. Fortunately he did not end up in the foot of my sleeping bag and woke up, after a solid 8 hours of sleep, sweaty and smiling.

I will admit... I couldn't stand to pull him out of the snuggly warm sleeping bag, completely undress him, and bare his little butt in below-freezing air, so Hubby warmed up the car and we changed his diaper in there. Not to mention that there's not a ton of space in a one-and-a-half person tent, and an unexpected fountain of pee (which happens most often in the mornings) would soak EVER-Y-THING.

The flares directly on the left and right are the "sun dogs".

After a scrumptious potato, bacon, and egg breakfast we explored the 200 acres, fed the cattle, picked apart massive wild hog skeletons, and piddled around on the ponds.
In the middle of a very competitive game of washers, we noticed some really cool sun-reflections. I later learned they are called "sun dogs", and happen when ice crystals called "diamond dust" become vertically aligned with a "22° Halo"(relates to an angle, not the temperature.. rather coincidental, though!) that sometimes can appear around the sun in very cold weather. And no, I didn't make any of that up.