We went camping this past weekend.
No, nothing in that sentence was a typo. It did not involve four star hotels- and, in fact, my accommodations were downright tiny. (There were multiple feet in multiple faces at multiples hours of the evening.)
There were, however, exceptional friends on this camping trip. The kind who take this trip every year together with their families of three and four. So when they invited our family of five [crazies], I was a) honored and b) confused. Were they sure?
Turns out, they were. (At least outwardly.) And turns out, we had an absolutely awesome weekend where my kids delighted themselves with faces full of dirt and fistfuls of sticks. They poked worms and tromped through trails, shrieked with delight at the stars and could not believe their luck when I showed them how to brush their teeth outdoors. (…Really?)
Of course, it wasn’t all sunny skies and campfire S’mores. (Although those were in abundance as well.) Mosquitoes ate us for many, many courses, Suzy lived through what we’ll now refer to as BlisterGate, an attempt to take five kids on a guided pony ride took as long as it would’ve taken to gestate and birth actual, new ponies, and- no names, but- someone’s overnight diaper gave out around 2am and soaked at least three people and their sleeping bags in pee.
But we caught part of a meteor shower.
Got a scolding from the park po-po. (I’ll never tell.)
And I rode a horse, sans kids, for an hour, through a prairie, during a cloudy morning with a gorgeous breeze. (Perhaps you’ve seen my giddy picture?)
(I also had an impressive parenting moment in the middle of a lake- on two paddleboats- where two kids wanted to switch position and one boat wanted to go its own separate way and everything that could possibly take on water was taking on water. Long story short: My left leg hooked the boats together, my upper body hefted and swapped two life-jacketed people, and I spent the rest of the three-hour tour physically holding the other paddleboat. So, if you’re wondering why I now possess a Popeye left arm and leg, there you go.)
(Luckily, the Weiss fam was canoeing by and captured this charming, post-swap moment.)
I can’t wait to go camping again, now that my kids have their first trip under their (probably filthy) belts. Hopefully even next summer.
I’ll probably be done with all the laundry by then.
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