Camping

Camping... I wince at the thought. I used to not be like that. I used to love camping and being outdoors. Until children. Now all camping has turned into is sleepless nights, dirty clothes, stinky clothes, dirty fingernails, tired kiddos, and too much planning for just one night away.

Somehow Eric talked me into going on the ward campout. I really didn't want to go, but I caved and went. We ended up camping in a really beautiful meadowed area. The kids had a great time. They were able to hang out with their newly-met friends. During the day, Colton loved just hanging outside. The rest of the kids explored the area. As dinner time came along, just as it was about halfway made, it started to rain. It was nice to get some rain, we just weren't too prepared for it. I hung out in the tent with Kaylen and Colton while the rest of the family got wet. In the evening, there was a program and a movie for the kids to watch. I should have not let Colton fall asleep during the program, because that led to a horrible night.

When I went to lay Colton down after we came back from the program, he was not ready to sleep. I tried everything I could to get him to sleep in the playpen in the tent, but he would not succumb to it. I finally had to leave the tent and go to the car. I got him to fall asleep in the car, but I didn't want to sleep sitting up all night, so we went to the tent. He stayed asleep until another child in the ward started crying. That was the end of it all. Long story short, we "slept" in the car. You actually can't even call it sleep because I was dead in the morning. I kept seeing lights in the trees from the highway, and after having been reading "The Short Second Life of Bree Tanner," I just couldn't sleep because my overactive imagination got the better of me. I think I ended up getting about 2 hours of sleep that night.

In the morning, Colton was fine. He loved being outside again. I was so ready to go home, that I packed up the tent and entire campsite alone so we could leave. (I wanted my bed.) The kids enjoyed playing. There was a zipline, which everyone enjoyed. There were other activities and games planned that they all enjoyed too. Their wish list has a new item added now - a rhino or arctic cat. Several people brought those up, and the kids loved them, even the big kid Eric!

I'm sure that by the time Eric thinks we need to go camping again, I will have forgotten how bad this all was (just like childbirth) and we'll be heading out into the wilderness again.