Camping Trip Proves to Be Adventure

Turtles and snakes and burps, oh my!
Our family has found another summer activity to try. In addition to Worlds of Fun, some of the kids have voiced their desire to go camping. I remember hating the whole camping thing as a teenager. I couldn’t live without my friends and the comforts of home — my blow dryer, my curling iron, my radio, my bed… If my parents mentioned a camping trip, a feeling of dread passed over me. Since I couldn’t get out of it, I usually asked if I could take a friend along. Sometimes they would say yes. One trip, they let me take my girlfriend, Lorrie. We had a good camping trip, canoeing on the Current River singing the Flintstones theme song. “…from the town of Bedrock….”
My 14-year-old daughter is a chip off the block. “Aw, Mom, do we really have to go camping this weekend? Can I take a friend? Will it be both nights?” I had to remind her that there are already nine of us, which requires two tents (if we ever receive the second tent we ordered). The state parks have a two-tent limit, so I don’t know where we’d put another person. There’s also a six-person limit to a campsite, but the camp attendant told us they have to make exceptions in cases like ours. They can’t very well split up parents and children. (Wait a minute…why not?)
We went on our first outing last weekend, with four of the kids. From the time we set up the tent until dark, the kids couldn’t wait to get in the tent and go to bed. We had to keep telling them to come out until it was actually bedtime. We took them to look for frogs, water rats, turtles and other creatures at the lake and roasted marshmallows to keep them occupied and their minds off going to bed. At last, we said ok, you guys can go into the tent and get to bed now.
“Do we have to?”
I don’t get it. We couldn’t keep them out of that tent all afternoon and they were so very tired, they just had to go to sleep immediately. Now, at 9:30 p.m., they aren’t tired? I forgot, kids are known to be contrary.
Once we got the three boys inside, we kept hearing laughter. Apparently, boys will continue to be boys, belching and making other, um, noises. The youngest, a girl, was sitting on her daddy’s lap in front of the fire waiting for it to die down, (and proving she could belch as masterfully as any boy), until dad went to find some corks for the boys.
By 10:30, I was done waiting for them to calm down and I decided to turn in also. It took a while, but they finally zonked out.
At 6 a.m., we were awakened to the sound of rain viciously slapping the tent. We were certainly glad we installed the rain cover when we set up the tent. We went back to sleep since we were staying dry and spent a lazy morning in the tent, enjoying the kids sleeping in.
The rest of the day was spent watching snakes in the rocks at the lake’s edge and trying to find a small turtle we could take home, since nine of the 10 baby-cricket-size frogs they caught in the rain at Worlds of Fun are dead now.
We also learned we need to plan better before the next trip. We had expected this first camping trip to be a kidless one, but we spoke to my husband’s kids and they were dying to join us after we got there, so we were a little unprepared. Since we were thrilled they wanted to join us, their mother brought them to us at the park and we made do with what we had brought. Always remember pillows when you are going to sleep on the ground. We began making a list right away so next time we’re more prepared. And if we’re not, surely there will be a Wally World nearby, won’t there?
It looks like we will be camping this weekend. My son called me at work to tell me the tent arrived - just in time. Now if we can convince my daughter of the fun to ensue.
We couldn’t convince my daughter how much fun camping was going to be (she will soon have all the fun she can stand, camping for two weeks with her dad). And it turns out my husband’s oldest son wasn’t convinced either. He stayed home with his mother and didn’t come with his siblings even though he was the one who seemed most anxious to do the whole camping thing in the first place.
Kids. Go figure.