Reading today: Began "Elizabeth & Mary" about the relationship between Elizabeth I and Mary, Queen of Scots
Music today: assorted CDs
TV today: there's no tv in the woods, silly!
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As is typical with a new child, our timing was off. We left an hour late, and what should have been a 3-1/2 to 4 hour drive turned into a 5-1/2 hour drive because we had to stop twice for the munchkin. But we arrived at Lake Michigan Rec Area, group site #3 on Friday at 3:30. Set up the camper and greeted three-fourths of my extended family, and some friends of my aunt and uncle. One of my cousins had still not met Roman and she was very excited to finally see him.

Roman was quite overwhelmed his first day camping. All the people, being outside, being in the popup, and there were lots of kids aged 4-9 (in my family) and some teens (aged 11-15) for good measure. He screamed a good 45 minutes when we put him to bed Friday night. It was chilly in the evenings, too, and we had the unusual chance to sleep with Roman in our bed just like our first night with him in Russia. He woke both nights at midnight because he was so cold, and we just tossed him in our bed between us. He is a great snuggler. :)

On Saturday he was in his element. He napped with no problems, probably because he was so wired the rest of the day. We went to the beach, played with the kids, went to the park, played "pass the baby" with all his elder relatives. Doug and I made a deal that if he went to the casino for a couple hours with my cousin, he would be in charge of Roman the rest of the evening. Doug apparently felt this was a fair trade, so Roman and I chased seagulls at the beach while Doug lost money to the Native Americans on slots and roulette. As my cousin put it, "I broke even at the casino, but the beer we picked up on the way home cost sixty dollars!"

So although Roman was tired, sandy, sticky, and greasy, he had a good time on his first weekend. He even played in his portable playpen with no complaints whatsoever!