Camping

When you have this many kids it's best to find things that are cheap to do. Being outside is pretty cheap. Sometimes, it's even FREE! Sleeping outside is pretty cheap too and it is SO exciting for our kids to think about sleeping in a tent. I camped a lot when I was little and I want my kids to do it too! (So says everyone who ever embarks on the adventure of camping with young children. The power of nostalgia is strong and actions that follow are usually irrational.) 

We've gone camping two times this fall. The first was with my family - though it was a day trip for them. This felt a little extra crazy because we had to pack for both being out of town (we spent one night at my sisters) and then going from there to camping. That makes for a lot of stuff!

The campsites were ok - but the main problem was that is was forecasted to rain. 50% chance. In Texas - I don't really know how to interpret this information! That basically means "it might rain.. or it might not... either way, we predicted it." So we opted to stay. We had a great first afternoon playing in the lake and discovering camping!

Paw patrol chair!

Little boys can't canoe. 

Our album cover

The girls, Tia, Nana, Matt and Ben got to go to a special star gazing presentation where they looked through telescopes and saw things like Saturn's rings and other cool things. Dad and I stayed back at the tent while the wee one slept. One thing I specifically like about camping is that it's quiet. And still. And I can just. sit. There isn't really any use cleaning cause you are living on top of dirt so it's pretty relaxing for me! I'd say sitting there with my Dad and then hanging with Matt a bit before heading to bed after my family left was the last relaxing I would do for quite some time!

Because the thing about Texas is that is actually, does, really rain sometimes. And by rain I mean GUSH GREAT TORRENTS OF WATER OUT OF THE SKY! The rain hitting the tent woke up Jackie and I took him and brought him into my sleeping bag with me. I reached over to look at the time and realized the tent was a bit wet next to where I had been sleeping. "Huh.." I thought "there is a puddle over there." Next Ben woke up because of the rain and when Matt reached over to grab him he realized his side of the tent was wet also. He went to get a towel but at this point I was pretty sure I knew where this was going. When Matt got back we quickly realized our tent was -flooding-. It was 1 am. We looked at each other and basically had one of those moments when you acknowledge the depth of the vows you made to each other -because we had to go. Us and our four small children had to GO.  I think I said outloud at this point, "this is going to get sooooo much worse before it gets better." We took Jack and Ben to the car and loaded them up. We woke up Zoe and put her in as the campsite was turning to mud all around us. By the time I woke up Ana we realized she was soaking wet! I had to find her clothes and change her and put her in the car. Then came the dripping wet pillows and completely soaked sleeping bags. We're stuffing stuff in trash bags and filling our car up to the brim! We had to take down the tent in the pouring rain and stuff that in the car too! It was actually comical. We were both laughing at the absurdity of what we were doing. Matt was shirtless bc he didn't want to put on a shirt only to have it soaking wet. I was in my pajamas in a poncho and was freezing! And then we didn't really have anywhere to go because the site was 2 hours away from my sister so we might as well just drive home at that point - so that is what we did. We drove home from camping at 1:30am. We got home around 5am and thankfully our kids transported into the house well enough that we could sleep a bit ourselves and the next day I spent all day drying and washing and airing out everything from camping. 

Whhhhhy!?!

You may be thinking to yourself (self?) why would they ever go camping again!? Well, because if at first you don't succeed - try, try again! 

... But also cause we already had reservations for another night in October. 

This time it -didn't- rain and we had a good evening at the camp. We spent the WHOLE night in a tent!  This particular camp we were going to had dino tracks so we planned to hike the next day to see them!

They were cool too! Zoe especially really enjoyed seeing them. 

She, and the others, didn't so much enjoy the 3.5 hour hike it took to see them. 5 miles RT. No stroller. Dumb dinosaurs! Didn't they know where the trailhead was!? Seems to me like they could have walked a bit closer to where that was. But in all honesty, the hike was pretty awful. Thankfully it wasn't hot at all but Jack had to be carried atop shoulders the whole way, Ben was carried that way some, Ana was lugged a bit too and Zoe had to tough it out and walk. Matt and I joke about how fast we could do that hike if we went solo because hiking 5 miles at the pace of Ana is paaaaaaaaaiiinfully slow. There were lots of tears at the end - tears of actual exhaustion and of great relief on my part. 

Are we still hiking? 

But it is actually something so ridiculous that we are already laugh and talk about it. In fact when I asked them the next day what their favorite part of camping was they said "seeing the dinosaur tracks." I almost fell out of my chair. 

Thankfully after the hike we got to go to Mimi's where everything is magical and wonderful and they have pancakes and hot cocoa for breakfast. 

The exact opposite of hiking misery

 I don't know why we do these things... keep camping. I really do just love being outdoors and I think it's important for my kids to learn about nature and grow to appreciate fun and enjoyment without technology and faced paced living. Sure there are tons of ways for that to happen but Matt and I like to be extreme sometimes. And even now if you ask if they want to go camping they will enthusiastically say YES! Once when we lived in Cali we were chatting with Matt's room mate at the time about the importance of pursing memories. This was basically in response to how he used to lay around on the couch for hours and say, "Mandy! Yell at me until I do my laundry..." and I would say, "I think you are wasting away. Really." and how I don't want to live my life laying around on the couch when I could be out pursing memories! I can't WAIT to hear how my kids will retell the dinosaur track hike as they get older -- Jack, for one, probably didn't see any problem with it!