Day camping at North Forks Campground

On Saturday, August 8, Lauren celebrated her fifth-week birthday with her first "camping" trip. Some of the young adults from our Loomis church and our parent church, the Granite Bay church, spent that weekend camping in the mountains a couple hours out of Sacramento. Our friend Kelsey decided to just drive up to the campsite on Sabbath morning and come back that evening and invited us to come along. We were a little bit wary about taking a longer drive with Lauren, but decided that it was high time we ventured out and expanded our baby-comfort-zone. I dubbed the event "day camping."

We met Kelsey at a Park-and-Ride lot not too far from her house, switched Lauren's car seat over to her car, and started into the mountains. Since Lauren had had a quick top-off meal at the Park-and-Ride, she did great on the drive up, falling asleep soon into the drive and not waking up until just a little bit before we arrived.

We got to the campsite in the late morning just in time for church service around the campfire. We enjoyed the singing, the Bible thoughts shared and the following discussion, and then were introduced to those we didn't know. After church time ended, we launched into lunch preparation, which was, of course, haystacks, the good old SDA standard. It was a tasty meal and there was plenty for all. We talked and visited in the afternoon, enjoying the warmth of the campfire and lounging in hammocks.

Later in the afternoon, the majority of the group wanted to take a short hike down to a nearby river with a waterfall and deep swimming hole, so we decided to join them. I put Lauren in my ring sling for the first time outside of our home, and we followed along behind those who knew the way. The hike was short and easy until we got to an overlook right near the waterfall. Then it was a steep descent on a dirt trail to the river below. I was nervous about the hike down while carrying Lauren and wearing shoes that didn't have really grippy soles, but Jonathan stayed right ahead of me and helped me over some of the larger rocks and steep sections, and we made it down fine. When we got to the river, Jonathan found a route across and took his camera over to leave with the rest of our group. I followed along behind as far as I could go without help and then waited for Jonathan to come back to help me across the last bit. But before he returned, a young man in another group started towards me. "We watched you come down and we were really nervous for you," he said, with an obvious drunken drawl. "I don't want you to fall so I'll help you across," he continued and held out his hand. Just then, he lost his footing on the slippery rocks in the riverbed and fell onto his bottom in the cold water. He sprang right back up again, but I wasn't too excited about him helping me. Luckily, Jonathan was almost back to me and Lauren by then, so I politely thanked the man for his offer, but said that my husband could help me the rest of the way across. The three of us made it to the other side without getting wet or having any mishaps or falls, thankfully. We enjoyed watching some of our group jump into the icy water of the swimming hole and watching one couple's energetic dog jump into the river to retrieve sticks. Before too long, the sun started to sink behind the cliffs overlooking the river, and we gathered our things to leave. Jonathan helped me back across the river and then stayed behind me as we hiked back up the steep trail.

Ultimate trust... sleeps while Mom is crossing rocks and streams

He was fetching quite a large log - almost pulled him under sometimes

Some folks went in

Our first "camping" adventure as a family as 3 :)

Once back at the campsite, we helped to prepare the supper of fire roasted potatoes and corn on the cob and some other dishes. It was delicious! As the sun set and night started to fall, we realized we had made a silly mistake, especially as two Northerners; we had forgotten to bring along pants and sweatshirts or jackets. I had a thin sweatshirt along, but that was extent of our warm clothes. We felt silly for already forgetting that not everywhere in California is baking hot and that it does get cold in the mountains, especially at night. Thankfully, I had brought some warmer layers and several blankets for Lauren, so we bundled her up and Kelsey lent us a quilt that she had stored in her car. We cuddled up together as we listened to a sundown worship thought, but when worship was over, we were quite ready to leave, both because of the cold and the mosquitoes which were starting to come out. We bid the overnight campers goodbye and headed back up the road to the highway. We did have to stop once to feed Lauren just before getting on the highway, and she was quite unhappy for about 15 minutes before we got back to our car, but we managed to make most of the trip without too many trials, thanks to some nice music on a CD Kelsey had. We made it back to our car, comforted Lauren, and headed home.

Weird fruit/berry we spotted on the trail

Lauren gets some snuggles with Kelsey

Mosquito protection

Cuddling to keep warm as evening approaches

Warm fire at the campsite

All in all, it was a great day out in the fresh air and woods, and it was so nice to finally venture out of our house with Lauren and explore a little bit outside of the city. Thanks so much, Kelsey, for inviting us "day camping" and for driving us there and back!