the new pirate

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We're really embracing the whole "suburban family" thing. Step one was the van. Now we have step 2:

No, we're not wearing silly hats and rampaging lands... Here's another hint:

The Little One loves our new toy. She even likes washing it. Actually, I think washing it was the highlight of her week. Here it is, in all it's glory:

She's a beauty, eh? 

Earlier this month we were invited to go camping with some friends, and with an eminent UCSC geo friends camping trip looming later this summer, we decided to give it a shot. We hadn't been camping with kids yet, so we didn't really know what we were getting into. The only tent we had was our old 2-man backpacking tent, which obviously wouldn't work for the 4 of us. We thought about getting a giant family tent, but realized all those years of camping and backpacking had made it so that we're tired of sleeping on the ground. We thought about it for a long time and realized that we really weren't going to be excited about camping unless we had something a little more, well, comfortable. Enter the Viking. 

We took it out over Memorial Day weekend with some friends and some friends of friends and it worked great. The whole experience, however, was a little much. Eight adults, seven kids - four of which were under 6 months old. We gave the college kids next to us plenty of reasons to use birth control. I think the Little One had a good time though, and Cashew did surprisingly well. Next stop: the beach?