Camping Trip

Each summer our kids love to take at least one camping trip… it’s not summer without it!  As adults we try to work that trip into the early part of the summer if the trip is nearby and not way north of here.  The weather around here is just too uncomfortable for us if we wait.  I went camping this year for the first time in five years!  (Rick has taken the older ones without me since then).  After camping with toddler Tristan in 2003 I made a rule that I would no longer go camping with anyone under the age of 2.  I actually went against that this time but figured we were within days of having Nathan turn two so I would go.  There were a few times I seriously thought I should have held to my rule but a few days would have made no virtual difference anyway.  What I really needed was a different rule but we did manage to have fun.  We camped out at a park not too far away, had to pay for two camp sites next to each other since we have too many people for one, about had the place to ourselves and it took two vehicles to get all our stuff there, partially due to bikes and two tents.  Also, I am quite confident that it did not take so long to move into our house 15 years ago as it took seven of us to move out for a short camping trip, even with having all our camping gear organized, clearly marked and centrally located.  It was crazy and I may rethink ever traveling overnight anywhere ever again.  There were some fun times, the kids just loved it and we all made some memories.  And that’s what we go through everything for, after all… the kids and the memories created.

I helped my girls pitch our old smaller tent while Rick set up the other tent.  I unzipped the bag and caught the musty smell of basement.  This thing had been sitting a while.  How long had it been?  Then I untied the tent and began to role it out catching another whiff among some sand and dried leaves that had gotten rolled up and then I knew how long it had been.  That scent was Adirondack Mountains.  Five years ago on Cranberry Lake was the last time we’d camped with this tent back when the family was smaller and I was just pregnant with our fourth.  The memories of summer time came rolling back.

The girls tent was up first while the larger tent took my husband a little longer.  Kaitlyn and Tristan went around making sure the stakes were in with the mallet.  Nathan just wandered and I knew he was going to need constant watching and attention around the clock.  Especially once he got into our tent, discovered there was not one door but three and he could unzip them to get out!  Hopefully he wouldn’t be able to see the zippers once it got dark.  He was a little confused about sleeping outside in the trees but loved seeing the “MOON”.

Next morning began bright and early.  Tristan got up with the sun, as always, a little after 5 a.m.  (but not in my tent).  Thankfully he is old enough now to keep quiet until others get up closer to 7.  This was a big reason for establishing my initial “no underage camping” rule.  Rick got out the camp stove and began the long process of making breakfast for everyone on a small stovetop. 

Kaitlyn decided she could wait as long as she had a drink of juice.  Upon her “bed-head” discovery, Haley was happy to use the time to figure out what to do next with her mop of hair.

By 8 a.m. we were over at the playground across the road from our camp sites enjoying the cool morning shade before the scorching sun and humid day ahead of us.  Tristan was so happy to have others join him in his adventures.  Nathan loved being outside in the trees all the time and kept singing “the spiders are awake, are awake!  Oh the spiders are awake, are awake”!

Three little monkeys as busy as can be.

Nathan loves to “drive the bus” and Tristan taught Kaitlyn and Nathan both to slide down the poll.  This kept me on my toes too but it was fun.

I wish I had that much energy in the morning before breakfast!

Camp food!  Rick loves making “eggs in a pocket” as I taught him ages ago.  Tristan dreams of cooking in the fire pit later and says the evening campfire is the best part of camping.  He can’t wait.

Bikes were our only form of air conditioning this day so we packed up water bottles, a bunch of sandwiches and apples and took off on a long afternoon bike ride where horses have the right of way, though to Lindsay’s chagrin we did not see any.  I decided I missed air conditioning more than anything else and that’s after sleeping on the hard ground without an air mattress and walking a half mile to a buggy bathroom/shower house.  That is funny considering I grew up thinking only rich people had air conditioning but I can’t live without it here.  Summertime can be positively oppressing here but we made the best of it and had fun.  The humidity is not as bad now as it is later in the summer.  The bike ride was so enjoyable and so much fun.

We saw lots of birds and turtles in the wetlands and soybeans growing on farms.  Nathan fell asleep on the ride and rested his head on my back for the last leg of our journey.

Tall Queen Anne’s Lace and Thistle grew in abundance, both reminding me of my Mom and her stories of her grandmothers farm rolling down hills of the stuff as a child.  We headed back to camp, walking our bikes up the final hill before coasting into our campground for a little “rest” and I use that term loosely. 

It was so hot and the kids were itching to go do something that we headed over to another area of the park where the kids could splash and get wet; a fun way to get cool and get cleaned off a little bit.  The slide was fun for Kaitlyn and Nathan.  Hats and sunscreen were a must.

Tristan loved splashing around too and helping his little brother at times.

Haley and Lindsay were grateful to cool off as well and took turns helping younger siblings or just enjoying the spray.  Then they noticed this spider that was just about to crawl onto my arm!  They grow them bigger in the country!  You could see his eyes, he was so big.

Nathan and Kaitlyn were shivering by the time we left the spray park and moved to the dry playground nearby.

Nathan peers at us through the window, Kaitlyn runs around as “Sheriff Woody” and Tristan is “King of the Mountain”.

Back at camp we got our campfire going, the evening started to cool and we roasted ears of corn to perfection along with hot dogs and marshmallows.  Tristan and Lindsay were in heaven with Lindsay saying that this was “the spirit of camping”.  Maybe I should just get a backyard fire pit… or maybe not.  We still live to close to the city.  In the dark we could see the moon rise through the trees as well as so many more stars and we could hear a plethora of birds calling, owls hooting and frogs croaking down in the creek bottoms below our site.  We saw bats flying around in the tree tops and raccoons came out to investigate all around us.  Nathan thought they looked like big kitty cats and he laughed.

We sat around the campfire and sang “The Other Day I Met A Bear”, “Bear Cub’s Lullaby”, “Fish & Chips & Vinegar”  and “White Coral Bells” in rounds, “The Campfire Song” song, “I’ve Been Workin’ On the Railroad”, “There’s a Spider on the Floor” and Tristan got out his joke books and told us a few good ones.  Haley used every spare second to read Twilight staying up with a flashlight in her tent into the wee hours of the night finishing it entirely on our trip.

I mentioned that we roasted some marshmallows.  Of course Nathan looked interested in them so I decided to give him one…

I don’t think he got a lot of it in his mouth.  He took that warm melty marshmallow in his hand and folded his little fist around its soft gooiness.  Then he opened his hand to reveal a sticky webbing of sugary marshmallow between his fingers.

What was I going to do with this boy and where is a bathtub when you need one?

Lindsay enjoyed her “spirit of camping” while Nathan threw his graham cracker at me that he’d touched with his marshmallow hands.  The thing stuck to my leg and Rick thought that was so funny!  Even funnier when I peeled it off my shorts, tried to throw it into the bushes for the raccoons and it wouldn’t let go of my fingers!  Rick had an idea to clean Nathan that took three of us to carry out.  Haley held the spigot of our large drink cooler while Rick took one arm and two legs and I held one arm and used my other hand to run the water threw his sticky marshmallowy hair.  His hands just took two of us to clean up.  Then we changed his clothes, gave him his quilty and strapped him into his stroller where he fell asleep by the campfire.  Until then he was trying to pull a vanishing act trying to get out one tent door and then as that door was being re-zipped he was on his way out the opposite door while another child had her hair caught in a tent zipper at the same time and needed rescueing!!!  He enjoyed watching the fire and was so tired that he transferred to his blanket in the tent without any trouble at all once he was asleep.

First thing in the morning Nathan started on his way out of the tent again so ended up in his p.j.’s out in the stroller with juice and a bagel in hand while the hustle and bustle of getting every one ready for the day began.  He enjoyed his walk with kids up to the bath house, excited to see dogs, birds and squirrels. 

Kaitlyn enjoyed the independence of riding her bike across the road to the playground all by herself.  Nathan brought a beach ball over and the older kids made up games throwing and kicking it while swinging. 

Busy, energetic boys in the morning find lots to occupy them in the great outdoors.  Tristan loves everyone getting up early with him even though today “early” was just before 7 a.m.  We must have tired him out the day before!

Kaitlyn found an inchworm which she hurried to show us and let Nathan take a turn to study.  Nathan was thrilled to hold a “worm” and when he was done Kaitlyn returned the inch worm to his home in the woods.

Kaitlyn, Nathan, Tristan and Haley enjoy the swings after breakfast.

Lindsay takes a turn to watch and help with Nathan.  Tristan LOVES playing with this beach ball, kicking and chasing it all around the playground.

We were glad the playground was there and that it was well cushioned.

It was time to break camp after a couple of nights and lots of fun.  The day promised to be a hot one and I was looking forward to my air conditioning.  Packing up with five kids; an adventure to say the least with Tristan going one way and Nathan the opposite direction. 

Nathan wandered on the site; fine WITHOUT the hot campfire or if an older child had him at the playground.  We had lots and lots of help packing up.  Haley got a lesson in taking down and rolling up tents and sleeping bags.  Nathan was ready to go.  He was hot and tired.  Maybe he could drive the bus???

But before we left he found a little more dirt to get into and a few of the kids found some pennies, a dime and a quarter in the dirt which made dirt even that much more attractive.  During the final stages of packing up the older kids decided to strap Nathan into our little old car with the seat belt giving him a water bottle to sip on.  This was a novelty for him and went over quite well since he never drives around in this car.  We  pulled out onto the road and back into civilization  with our memories, more appreciative of mother nature and more appreciative of a clean warm bath, soft beds and the conveniences of air conditioning, washing machines and stovetops.  Sure their were moments of craziness and maybe even insanity but I’m glad we went.  I just hope the next campout is easier as I feel a newfound respect for my ancestors who walked across the continent without an escape from dirt, heat, rain, cold, sickness and other hardships.  I love camping but it’s not an easy thing with five kids.  I think we’ll do it again… next year!