Camping Wedding with Kids

Ken and I went to Taryn & Paul's wedding this weekend. It was one of my favorite weddings -- a camping wedding right on a river. They had it a lodge that had cabins for the parents/families and then everyone else camped on site. It was great. I loved how they arranged meals for everyone, had kegs and drinks available and everyone could meander about all weekend. From mountain biking to hiking to whitewater rafting, you could do what you want. They got married in a short, simple ceremony at 5 pm -- officiated by one of our friends.

A bunch of our friends from Tucson flew in for the wedding. San Francisco, New York, San Diego and Tucson were all represented. We organized the camping gear for 8 of us. Many thanks to our Portland friends for pitching in their gear.


The weekend was great. Getting in and out of the tent was comical, but other than that, everything was fine. There were lots of kids at the wedding (10 kids under the age of 4) and 6 pregnant women. There were only 66 people at the wedding, so kids made up a huge portion of it. It was fun to see them all running around and it made everything not as scary for me.

My highlight was babysitting our friends' (Rob & Jana's) twins while they went on a hike. The twins are 20 months and they spent most of my babysitting time napping. When the little girl woke up, I asked if she'd like to get out of her pack and play (crib of sorts) and she raised her arms so I could pick her up. My heart melted a little bit. Then we went on a search for her socks. She was surprisingly helpful. She helped me locate them -- I asked her questions and she'd point to where they likely were, which was great, because I honestly had no idea where they were. We put her socks and shoes on and then her brother woke up. I sat her on the floor with a toy while I went to retrieve her brother. Jonathan was not as helpful. His socks were easily found but completely wet from stomping in puddles or something boy-related. I found some new dry socks, put them on him and was about to take both outside when a horrible stench came from Jonathan's diaper. I watched Jana change them before they left, so I felt OK putting down the towel, getting the new diaper and the wipes. I put him on the towel and got his pants and diaper off only to realize the smell was too much for me. I started gagging. My friend Kristen was in the other room taking a shower and heard the sniffles (not sure if they were mine or his) and asked if I needed help. Knowing I was beat, I immediately said yes. Jonathan started to cry. I gave him the plastic shovel to distract him. He wanted the plastic pail too, but I kept that in case I needed it more than him. More tears. Kristen saved the day and changed him. I was next to her, completely unhelpful. I did help by gagging as I threw the poopy diaper away, but beyond that, I was useless. Ditto for when we realized Ella also needed to be changed. Kristen is my hero. Once she handled the horrible duties of both, we took them outside in the grass and let them play with their buckets and shovels until mom and dad came back. I told the tales of Kristen's awesomeness. Ella was a sweetheart and I loved how she wanted to wear dresses yet still enjoyed sitting on your lap and spilling things down the front of herself. It made me much more excited for a little girl of my own. Ken had a good time with the kids too. He played soccer with the little boys and helped Ella eat her crackers. Both were priceless.

According to the pregnancy book Natascha gave me, I am officially 8 months pregnant as of yesterday. I am 32 weeks, so 8 weeks to go, though normal arrival is anytime between 38-42 weeks. I'm assuming the latter since first births tend to be late, I was late and I'm thinking Katie's a sleeper like me. But either way, it looks like we're now in the single digits. Stay tuned.