Tuesday, July 06, 2010

A Camping We Will Go

Our miniature camping trip this year was a roaring success. There was no barfing in brand new cars, or torrential downpours like last year. The only drag this year was that Steve had to work on Friday and Monday, so I had to set up (and tear down) camp by myself. And when I say by myself, I wasn't actually alone - I had the baby of the house with me, and the three year old that stayed up until 10:30pm the night before to watch fireworks. (Note to self: over-tired three year olds do not make good helpers. They do not make good ANYTHING!)
We spent a good amount of time at the wickedly wonderful 1 acre wading pool at the park. Sadly the lake was closed (as much as you can "close a lake") due to high bacteria levels, so the pool was insanely busy, but we had a blast none the less. It's great to watch Griffin get older and be able to hang out with his buddies and be silly and play together independently. Of course, there's always the occasional tussle to referee, but when everyone is well fed (and well napped) they get along famously and can play well together for hours. Which, in turn, increases the parental relaxation scale. Everybody wins.
Corben is a born camper. He sat around, watched. Ate. Slept. Pooped. Got naked. Hardly fussed, despite the fact that he's trying to cut that second tooth (Gawd, his poor gums are SO red!) He was great! Corben jumps it up, camp style:

We decided early on in the season to do just a little camp trip this year, because we've rented a cottage for later on in the summer with some other friends. We thought it would be easier than camping with the lot of us, and for $300 per couple, we've got a cottage on the shore of Rice Lake for an entire week, with room for everyone (including the 5 children we'll have between us.) I'll miss our traditional week in the bush, but this weekend was more than lovely, and I'm very much looking forward to our cottage week on the lake!

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7 comments:

dana said...

So glad to hear that you had a good weekend. Chris and I are thinking we will try some backyard camping this year and maybe something a little more daring next year. You make it look easy!

Marianne said...

Ok, so how did you deal with the dog situation Jenn? I'm going camping with the big group we go with every year, and I'm bringing my little pup with me... what did you do at night? etc....

Anonymous said...

Oh... and I'm waiting to hear about your experience with the RMC girls :) (I realize I was there, but you know... your perspective :)

Ginger said...

Camping...I wish it was something I could get into. Maybe I could if Texas wasn't so FREAKING hot in the summer. Maybe if I camped in Canada it would be better...But a cottage at the lake?!?! I think I might get into that idea a little more! :)

Anonymous said...

1) Bringing the jumper and using in on the "clothes line".... EFFING BRILLIANT!!!!!

2) You're going to Rice Lake this summer!? My family's cottage is about 30 minutes away from Rice Lake and Luke's side has a cottage right ON Rice Lake!!

Terri-Ann said...

We're back from our week away - what terrible hot weather it was! The kids didn't go to sleep until about 10pm b/c it was just too darned hot!

On another note, I also used cloth diapers this camping trip - and it was a resounding success!

Kendra said...

It didn't rain because neither I nor my rain cursed sister where there. Ya know that it's true!