Camping

Every year for Grant's birthday we go camping. This year we went the weekend before his birthday because the kids had Friday off. Our plan was to leave a little after lunch so that we would get to our campsite right when it was check in time. We wanted to have enough time to set up camp and not have to worry about fixing dinner right away. Well we left later than wanted and had a few stops along the way which lead arriving two hours after our desired time. However, a miracle happened and that was everyone happily pitched in with setting up camp and before we knew we were done and it only took us an hour. So we had plenty of time to go for a walk/scooter ride and even throw rocks in the water. We are under a burn ban so we could only use closed grills or propane stoves. No problem we have a propane stove with a griddle attachment so there endless meals that we could cook. I get everything set up to make dinner and then I ask Grant to light the propane and that is when we realized that we had no lighter. Now I need to back up a little bit. Earlier at our first attempt to cook dinner as I was gathering stuff to cook diner I asked Grant for the propane and it was then that he realized that he had forgotten to grab the propane. So we quickly hoped in the car and out we went to find the nearest place that would sell propane. We were lucky to find a nearby gas station. When we got back to the campsite we decided that since we had "everything" that we needed to make dinner we would wait a few minutes and enjoy the outdoors. Which now brings me back to having no lighter. It was dark now and the kids were ready to eat. Grant found some matches in his fishing vest because you know a scout is always prepared. The only problem he didn't have anything to strike them on, and there is also the problem that no one knows how old these matches really were. After trying to strike them on various things around us and having no luck we started to make dinner with what we had that needed no cooking. We are known to forget something but it usually pajamas not propane and matches. The kids enjoyed themselves immensely from jumping on the air mattresses to the scooter races and Spencer found his long lost best friend...dirt. That kid enjoyed rolling around in the dirt and even scooping it up and tossing it in the air so that as it came down it wrapped around him like a blanket.

The next morning Grant took the kids out for a boating ride which didn't go so well. The water was choppy which made Grant's canoe rock and that made Madeline very uneasy. Anthony was having a blast and well Spencer was bored. That goodness for modern technology. Grant called me to come and get the kids. We decided on meeting at a certain location where he would pick me up and drop me and the two younger kids off at the park to play. Well as this park was a beach area set up to play complete with water and all. Well Spencer other best friend is water and the magnetic force between him and water is so strong that there is no separating them. What started out with just getting our feet wet turned into Madeline and Spencer fully immersed in the water having a good time splashing and playing. Later on Anthony joined them for the fun. After a little bit of time the kids got cold ( don't know why it was only October). We decided it was a good time anyway to go back to camp and clean up and then we would come back to the day park eat lunch and then play until we were all plumed tired. Again a miracle of teamwork happened and it only took us an hour to tear down camp. The kids quickly ate their lunch and you guessed it they were back in the water play clothes and all. However, Daddy ended up in the water too and this was after he declared that he was not going to get wet (famous last words). They wrestled and splashed for a bit until they were all cold. Then it was off to running around in the sunshine to dry off because after all they swam in their play clothes. Grant then found a small channel area of the lake that was not choppy and so he took Anthony and Madeline out for a little boating and fishing. Spencer decided he wanted to stay behind and so waiting for Daddy to get back near water was very challenging in keeping Spencer from getting wet again. By this time it is 3:00 and we are all tired and wanting to be at home. It took longer then we wanted to get the boat tied down to the roof of the van but after accomplishing that huge task we were off for home and not too soon for a few minutes after we arrived home a rain storm came through.

Over all I think our fall camping experience was a success and we had a lot of fun together as a family.