The Camping Gong Show

We've been trying to get our sorry booties camping like every weekend since the beginning of June and we were finally able to get out. I think maybe we should've seen it all as a sign that maybe we weren't supposed to go but no, we went for it anyway. Well, that's what we get for trying so hard. Our camping trip was a bust. I wonder sometimes if we need to be more spontaneous and then things would work out better.

I can't say the adults had fun but the kids sure did. So we're glad we went for them. We keep saying we need to get out again and have a good camping experience to make up for it. Hopefully we won't run out of summer or good weather before it happens.


This is what I learned:

• I hate our tent. I want a tent with windows.
  
• It is important to bring a frying pan and/or some sort of vessel in which to cook your food.
• If you eat your breakfast and lunch for dinner, you'll probably have to leave earlier than planned the next day.
  
• We really need to get our A/C fixed on our car.
• If the cotton woods are losing the cotton, we really shouldn't try to go anywhere outdoors.
• I will never understand that one chipper couple up at the crack of dawn saying good morning to you as you walk to the pit toilet.
• When you're hot and cranky, you'll pay ridiculous prices for ice and popsicles.
• Having the sun not go down while you're camping makes it very difficult to sleep and pee outside w/o somebody seeing you.
• It will now be essential for us to buy those enormous Costco muffins each time we go camping since they pretty much saved our lives from starving.

• It doesn't really matter where we go, our kids can always have fun.
• It doesn't really matter where we go, our kids will always fight about something.

Their favorite place to play while we were camping was in the trunk of the car. Let's hope their simplicity lasts for a long time.


We did have some highlights though, like seeing the largest dragonfly in Canada (and maybe the world).


And then my favorite parenting moment that I can remember:

Us three girls walked over to the bathroom one last time before we left. As it was a pit toilet, it was quite stinky. You know how that goes. I don't think Tati's sense of smell is quite as apt as mine and Chloe's are. Chloe in fact, may be well on her way to having a bionic nose. She was actually making gagging sounds and almost dry heaving for the stench. Tati quickly peed and went over to Chloe's side to give her some encouragement. Chloe started to get really frustrated and grossed out yelling to me that she couldn't pull up her pants AND plug her nose at the same time. I tell her to breath out of her mouth and just try and hurry. Then I see it. The most loving sister moment ever. Tati is plugging Chloe's nose for her while Chloe pulls up her pants.

It is funny because our "Practice Camp-Out" actually worked out better than the real thing.