To Camp or Not to Camp

Sometimes I feel bad for my younger kids.  Instead of the "fresh-I-have-energy-and-everything-is-so-exciting-mommy", they get me in my "tired-I've-already-done-that-a-million-times" state and they miss out on things we never would have missed with the older kids.

Take the ward camp-out for example.  Every fall for an entire decade, we went without fail.  We let the kids play until late, roast s'mores, guzzle hot chocolate, camp on the hard ground, and then we'd go home the next morning filthy, achy, exhausted, and sugar-high and would have 5 loads of laundry to do in addition to still having a whole Saturday's worth of activities to attend. But the kids loved it and looked forward to it all year, so we did it.

Fast forward a few years to an older, tireder version of  Glen and Lara,  who despite still having the best of intentions seem to find those road-blocks a little harder to tackle these days .

Like when the traffic was really bad on the way to the camp-out last year, instead of persevering for the sake of the kids, we decided that it was just easier to turn around and go home rather than fight our way through rush hour.    The kids were only slightly appeased by Glen's gesture of setting up the tent and camping with them in the backyard.

This year was supposed to be much better.

But once again, life got in the way.  First Cami found out that she was running in a race early Saturday morning, which meant that one of us needed to stay home with her.   Then Glen had a crazy day at work and couldn't get off early to take them like he'd intended.  So it fell to me to take the kids up there.

   Too bad my poor sense of direction got the better of me and despite having been to the park a million times before, I randomly got very lost and could not find the campsite.  After 20+ minutes of driving around in the quickly approaching dusk, my dread for finding a spot for our tent in the first place, let alone setting up the tent in the dark, was increasing by the second.

Then when, already completely flustered at being lost,  we did eventually did find our group,  I was annoyed to find that there were no parking spots anywhere nearby.  It was at that moment I unilaterally declared that we would only stay for a few hours and definitely would not be spending the night.

The kids were initially pretty disappointed not to sleep over,  but after playing hard in a  3-hour long pyro/friends/sugar fest, I think they were about as ready to head home as I was.  

And as a side bonus, sleeping in my own bed meant I actually stayed awake through General Conference the next day.

uh....make that mostly awake.


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Mystery Lights

Look! 

What are those glowing orbs in the night sky? 

Are they stars?  Or a UFO?  Maybe a couple of cats? 

Oh wait!  I see a face!  Is it a creepy alien?  

Or a couple of stalkers trying to see what my next blog post will be about? 

Nope....

it's just my hunny and a couple of kids sleeping in the tent set up in the backyard. 

They were supposed to be at a ward campout while I stayed home to get Spence and Cam off to their Saturday morning activities (SAT and cc meet), but DC rush hour traffic proved to be too much for these fair traffic campers and instead they watched "Brave" at the dollar theater and came home to do their camping.    Ellie opted to stay inside and sleep in Daddy's spot on the bed next to me. 

Everyone missed out on their annual Spam burgers cooked by Bruce, but I'd have to say that the nonstressful traffic coming home (approximately 22 feet) and spider free restroom facilities more than made up for that small sacrifice! 

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A Dummy's Guide to Camping

1.  Thoughtfully and lovingly prepare high quality food to eat by the fire.  Or by the ignition at least.  

2. Arrive to campsite as late as possible.  It'll make your campsite choice much easier. Do you want to roll uphill or downhill?    Additionally, people tend not to bother you with conversation and pounding in stakes when you set up your tent in the dark. 

3.  Round off the aforementioned thoughtfully prepared meal with a well-rounded mass of roasted fluffed sugar sandwiched between chocolate sugar and graham flavored sugar.  And in case you're thirsty, there's even chocolate flavored sugar water that'll make your sugar high complete! 

4.  Go to bed and annoyingly tell kids to pee in their pull-ups so you won't have to traipse them to the restroom...again. 

5.  After approximately 3.4 hours of fitful sleep, wake up and stop equally sleep-deprived people who happen to be carrying small babies and walking large dogs and demand that they hold still long enough for you to ask 42 questions and smother the dog with loves. 

6.  Eat a breakfast of champions....spam and cheese bagels cooked by the Spam King are perfect!

 

7.   Make sure the whole world knows what your Christmas pajamas looked like, by wearing them long into the morning hours.  Heck, why even bother changing?  I heard footy pajamas are all the rage in Vienna these days. 

8.  Practice your pyrotechnics whenever possible. 
Paper in the fire...boring.  
Plastic in the fire....slightly more entertaining.
Glow sticks in the fire....awesome!  

9.  Pack up, go home, think about the laundry you should do, then take a quick nap.   

10.  Repeat exactly as outlined, every September for 12 years or so.  


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