Boone's first camping trip at 10 and 1/2 months!

Well... we may be crazy, but we decided to take our less than 1-year-old camping when our dear friends. the Younkins, came up to Canada! We originally had planned to camp in Jasper, but as we checked the weather closer to the weekend, the forecast kept deteriorating with predicted rain and cold, cold weather (around 40 degrees at night... brr!) Since we were planning to camp in a tent, we just thought it was a big gamble to travel 5 hours and sit inside a cold tent when it was raining. So instead, we decided to drive up to Banff and try and get a first come, first serve camping site. We got the last one at the Tunnel Mountain Campground that had a fire pit, so Jeff was very happy. I think he doesn't consider it camping if you can't build a fire and sit around it at the end of the night!

Jeff and I camped a few times our first year of marriage, but we never made it out to camp while we were in Tennessee, so we were a bit surprised when we remembered how big our tent actually was when we opened it up! The Younkins brought their own tent, but after we set ours up, we decided to just split one tent!

We saw so many cool things while we camped, so there will be lots of pictures further down in the post, but a few things we learned during our first camping trip with Boone aka "Camping with a Baby Survival Guide"

1. Bring a pack n' play - Our babe didn't really sleep in the pack n' play. (Probably because it was SO cold at night! 40ish degrees is too cold for tent camping, but we did it!) We did find that the pack n' play came in handy for plopping Boone in when we needed to put the tent up, or get a fire started or anything else where our hands were going to be busy for a bit and we needed him to not eat rocks, or get covered in dirt or venture toward the fire.)

2. Be prepared to not sleep - Whether it be rowdy neighbors that kept Boone up, or the lack of all the white noise we usually have in Boone's room, he didn't sleep great! As long as I know that going into a camping trip, I'm good, but I wasn't prepared for it initially! Oh well, we were only camping for 2 nights, so anyone can survive with a few nights of poor sleep!

3. Bring tons of layers of clothing for the baby - As I said earlier, it was REALLY cold during our first camping trip. I would guess if you aren't camping in the Canadian Rockies or don't schedule a camping trip after October or before April, you should have a little warmer weather, but I would always error on the side of bringing too many clothes for a baby. You can layer them up at night and keep them nice and toasty no matter how chilly or windy it gets in the evening. The funny thing was, I brought plenty of clothes for Boone, and not nearly enough for myself. At one point, I felt like I had layered all the clothes I had brought at the same time just to stay warm enough!

All that being said, we had so much fun and definitely made some great memories! Jeff and I really enjoy camping and I can see us taking our family camping for many years to come! It's cheap, fun and you can see so many cool things in places where you camp!

Ok, here's some pictures of Boone's first camping trip:

We did the Lake Louise hike to the tea house with Boone! It was a pretty hike and we enjoyed a little tea once we got to the top!

At our campsite for the weekend in Banff. Hayley was so great with Boone and helped take such good care of him. (Although, I think in this picture he is eating a pinecone! HA!)

After we set up our campsite, we decided to check out a few spots near our campground. Here are the hoodoos!  

Love this picture of Hayley and Sybil! So glad they came up to visit us!

Saturday, we decided to finally do the Johnston Canyon Hike. Here's the group checking out Johnston Canyon as we were starting our hike. We did the full hike all the way to the Ink Pots. 

We hiked... 

and hiked...

and hiked.... and this was the view at the end! Breathtaking and worth it! You can only get this view by taking the time to hike the whole way! We left behind the crowds at the beginning and this was our reward!

And we were hiking for so long that Boone just zonked out! 

We also took the Younkins to see Moraine Lake. It's one of our favorite spots in Banff! 

Love this place!

As you can tell from this picture, in order to get a picture without any random tourists in it, you have to work pretty hard! These destinations are so busy in the summer.

Our campsite the second morning!

Love these two!

Hayley didn't want to have to face the cold (or wake up!)

Good morning, Hayley!

We survived the first camping trip! Boone's such a little trooper for all the places we take him and he just handles it with ease! Too bad the pictures of all these adventures will be the only way he remembers them all!

Thanks to the Younkins for coming along with us on our first post-baby camping trip! (Mrs. Younkin was the master chef!) We had so much fun with you all!

There's still some warm weather left before fall officially arrives, so get out there and camp! 

Until next time,

Jeff, Em + Boone