Konrad's first camping trip

As you might remember from our camping trip last year at Joshua Tree, we've decided J-Tree is the best desert camping spot for us while the kids are small, since it's much closer than Death Valley (a more exciting place to camp, but the length of the drive makes it less than ideal for three small children).

Lukas was incredibly (let me just say that again, INCREDIBLY) excited about going camping again. We had last gone camping in Yosemite, so memories of that trip had overwritten his memories of J-Tree last year (after camping at Yosemite last summer, I decided on no more camping until I wasn't pregnant any more). This was Lukas' seventh camping trip, Natalie's third, and Konrad's first. I have lost all count of how many times I've been camping, and Tom has camped at least 10 times as much as I have...so camping trips do tend to run together, but camping with the kids helps us remember new visits because we see how much they grow from one time to the next.

This trip back to J-Tree marked the one-year anniversary since I first suspected I was pregnant with Konrad, so it was cool that his first camping trip was at the same campground where I told Tom of my suspicions.

Our 6- person tent is barely big enough for our full size mattress in the middle, and each child on a mat around the edges (6-person tent means six people crammed in together, with no gear). We also set up our old 3-person tent as a play tent for the kids (we can see Lukas and Konrad sleeping in it in a few years). We hiked a bit, and took a drive in the afternoon so the kids could nap in the cool of the air conditioned van (the tent gets too hot during the afternoon for napping). We were excited to go this week because this year was a good wildflower year with the extra rain we got at the right time. If you didn't see the desert around you, you might think you were in Hawaii if you saw the yucca in bloom (in the picture, by our tent). Natalie loved playing in the big sandbox (the desert), so of course Tom and I got dirty when we picked her up (which was a lot!) The kids loved the trip, I enjoyed the calm feeling of being out with very other few people after living in a metropolis, and Tom loved seeing Lukas follow in his footsteps of love and enjoyment of the desert.

Ok, since I didn't expect it to be as hot as it was, I didn't pack enough shorts and I completely forgot about hats for the kids (!) but I found an old stick of sunscreen in the diaper bag, so that saved us all from roasting.

A very memorable trip, and we are refreshed!