Camping for the 4th and some scary stories

 For the 4th of July we decided to go camping this year! A few friends from the ward found a campsite in New Jersey and knew we had been wanting to go so we rented a tent from REI (only $25!), packed up our memory foam mattress and blankets and drove out to Bass River, New Jersey. It was a pretty drive and sooo green! We got there a night before everyone else so we set up camp, roasted some meat on sticks over the fire (Spencer's favorite) and hung out just the 3 of us. East Coast camping is very  different from West Coast camping. There are no mountains so you really don't get the fresh air smell, crisp cool air or feeling that your actually camping like you usually get. We set up our tent in the 90 degree heat with 100% humidity and I was dying of heat and sweating so bad! I went into the tent to nurse Charley and we both had sweat running down our faces. It was sticky and hot! Once the sun went down it got a little better though and it actually started to rain that night which felt so nice and refreshing. Charley was a champ camping and did really well sleeping on the floor of the tent the first night. We were really surprised that she fell asleep when we put her in there and said 'goodnight'.

 The next day it was still pouring so we decided to go into Atlantic City. It's like a mini Las Vegas with tons of casinos and hotels. It reminded us of Wendover in Nevada. I snapped a pic real quick as we were driving through.. yep, there it is!
The Tanger Outlets were there so we shopped around for a bit and had quite a scare when we were in the Nike Store. Spencer went to the bathroom and I was walking around the store with Charley while holding a few items I wanted to try on. Charley grabbed one of the hangers I was holding and started to suck on it and all of the sudden she started to cry really loud. I looked down at her and the hanger was stuck in her mouth under to tongue! It must have gotten pinched on her skin under her tongue. I tried to pull it out without ripping her mouth and couldn't and so I dropped down to the ground holding her and yelled for someone to come help me. A few people looked at me weird so I started yelling "somebody HELP!" I told a lady that a hanger was stuck in her mouth and I couldn't get it out so they called 911 and told me the paramedics were on their way. Charley was screaming this entire time and she tried to pull on it a few times too. A few ladies came over to me that were nurses and told me to hold Charley close and to try to calm her down and told me to calm down too. I felt so helpless looking at Charley holding her hands back so she wouldn't pull the hanger but seeing her in pain just broke my heart! She went from screaming crying to a fast whimper cry and kind of went into shock. I told some workers that my husband was in the bathroom and to go get him. One of the lady nurses told me she was going to try to pull it out and I don't know what she did but she moved it around a weird way and it came out! I was so relieved! Right then the paramedics came and we told them what had happened and that she was okay now. She wasn't bleeding but was pretty shaken up and still breathing weird from crying so much so one guy listened to her heart beat to make sure she was okay. He said everything sounded fine and just to watch for any bleeding or if her mouth began to hurt. We left the store after that {without the cute clothes I wanted to try one.. dang it!} and Charley just clung to me and didn't want to let anyone else hold her. She was scared and still a little shaken from everything that had just happened. Poor girl.. I felt so bad for her! Anyway we left, got a quick bite to eat at a pho place and went back to the campsite.

Charley didn't do so well the rest of the trip because she was still shaken up from what had happened to her. On top of that I felt on the roof of her mouth FOUR teeth coming in at once! We gave her children's tylenol at every meal to try to help her pain.

The next day we went to the lake with our friends and enjoyed being on a sandy beach! Charley loved the water too! We also found a few ticks on us (gross!) which I had never seen a tick before so I didn't know what they were at first. I thought they were little spiders crawling on us and I showed Spencer and he said, "um those are ticks!" We hurried and went in our tent and took off our clothes and I found 4 on Spencer and 3 on me! That night we did't see any on Charley but when we got home we found one behind her ear! (ewwwww!) We got home around 11pm and so when I saw it on Charley we had to wake her up and get the tweezers to try to pull it out! She of course was again traumatized so badly from us pinning her down and tweezing something from behind her ear. She was moving so much we didn't get the head out all the way. I was scared because Lymes Disease is carried by ticks and they are so bad here on the East Coast (another fun fact I have learned since moving here). So I took her to the Pediatrician the next day for him to check it out and make sure she was okay. When she saw the Dr. come into the room she, of course, started crying because he is the one that gives her shots so once again another fun filled crying traumatizing day for her!

All in all, we loved being outdoors and camping! There is nothing like it. Something about sleeping in a tent outside and having campfire food makes me happy! It's such a family activity and gets you out of your element for a few days/nights. AND it didn't hurt that our friend made HOMEMADE marshmallows that were to die for!