Rocky Mountain Star Stare

This year, we finally made the pilgrimage out to a dark sky site for Rocky Mountain Star Stare, a get-together for astronomers (and amateurs, like us). It was also Camden's first camp-out.

Camden and Trent had a fun father-son outing to R.E.I. to get Cam his very own sleeping bag. It's called the "Tigger." Only the best for our little guy! He did so well on his first camp-out!

Showing off his bag and his cool new water bottle.

What a cutie! So excited!

Getting ready to head out. Packing 4 telescopes and astronomy equipment and camping gear for three people (including a two-year-old) for three days into an SUV is no easy task!

The first night of observing was amazing! But, of course, I forgot to get any pictures. It was funny to be on a camp-out where the real action happened at night and we were almost at a loss trying to entertain ourselves during the day.

Taking a family walk in beautiful surroundings. You can see some of the 300 campers and their scopes in the background.

On the way to the dark sky site, we asked Camden what he was most excited about, and he said, "Do they have dirt there?" No joke. And boy did they! He was such a little dust ball that we took to stripping him down and literally beating his clothes a few times a day. That fine dust got into e-v-e-r-y-t-h-i-n-g!

Mommy and Boo posing at the entrance. "No white light past here." You are officially in astronomy country! :)

My boys hanging out at camp during the heat of the day.

The boo getting ready for some observing time. (Yes, the binoculars are upside-down.)

Not an ideal sunset for an astronomer, but beautiful nonetheless.

The second night was horribly overcast. The seeing and visibility were terrible, but we still enjoyed spending time together as a family. Camden fell asleep in my arms, but when I went to tuck him into his sleeping bag, his eyes popped open and he said, "But I want to look in the telescopes!" He's such our little Sky Puppy.

It rained all night and into the third day, but we stuck around for the walkabout because Trent had entered our home-made telescope.

My sweetheart getting ready for the walkabout. He (we) won "best first telescope." It was such a fun project building it together.

Enjoying close observation of some of the local wildlife.

Camden loved hanging out with the TeleVue peeps ...

... but especially "Sandy."

Huddling in the truck for shelter from the rain (and mud!) while Daddy packs everything up.

A patch of blue sky taunting us on the way out of the camp.

It really started to clear up by the time we had everything packed. Darn that clear sky clock! It's always right, even at the most unlikely of times.

By the time we pulled out, all the die-hards (aka people with no toddlers who had decided to stay ... ah, that was us once upon a time) were giving each other pats on the back and "told-ya-so"s.