Caution: Photo heavy post. This is just part 1. I will post parts 2 and 3 over the next couple of days.

Some people are so comfortable camping that they wouldn’t think twice about packing up a toddler and an eight week old baby – and all the stuff that goes with them – and heading out for a weekend of roughing it. We are not those people. Thankfully we made the decision to go before I had the baby and before we had a chance to really think about what we were doing. Crazy? Perhaps. Glad we went? Definitely.

We weren’t completely roughing it. We were car camping (complete with portable crib) at the Oregon Coast. There were bathrooms a short walk through the park, but you had to pay for the showers (we didn’t – all weekend). That’s roughing it enough for me.

We were camping with four other families, three of whom we met during our prenatal class with Thomas and the other during a Baby and Me group soon after he was born. So we all have toddlers around the same age. That’s five almost three year olds. A lot of kids to keep track of but thankfully the adults still outnumber the kids.

Here is our weekend in photos. I took about 300 photos but have somehow managed to extract the highlights. I haven’t had a chance to do any editing to the pics so these are all straight out of the camera.

Friday – we set up camp and headed down to the beach as the sun was setting. So beautiful.

I love sillouettes.

And sunsets.

Deek (aka King of the Kids) plots an attack on the other parents.

Kei was able to outrun them – barely.

Love this photo. The joy on his face says it all.

There is a lot of driftwood along this part of the beach. Not sure exactly where it comes from (BEFORE the ocean, that is). If you know, let me know. People have even built wind breaks out of the driftwood which was a welcome escape from the biting cold.

After heading back to camp six very tired kids hit the sack at around 10pm, with their parents not far behind.

Other observations from the day:

• The Fred Meyer store in Tillamook smells like cows. Not a faint odor – a smell that punches you in the face as you drive into the parking lot. What a great way to overcome the problem of shopping when you’re hungry. Definitely killed my appetite.
• The Oregon coast is at least 20 degrees colder than the city. Next time I will pack accordingly and not waste any precious space to pack a bathing suit. What was I thinking? Also a good idea to remmber to bring long pants for your child. This will also avoid an emergency stop at the aforementioned smelly cow store.

Check back tomorrow for highlights from day 2.