Back To The Real World

Camping day 1-
Pick up rental car. Notice that it's an out of state return with CA plates. Worry that people will think we're from California.
Approximately ten minutes after we leave home, daughter asks, "Are we almost there?"
Arrive at park, see snow. Kids are excited. Check in goes smoothly.
Unpack.
Take Coralie to the bathroom, ask if son needs to go. He says no. Return from bathroom to see son in cabin doorway with wet pants. He says later, "I yelled for you mom, cause I had to pee". Like I could hear him inside the concrete bathroom that's across the parking lot.
Realize that I only brought breakfast food and snacks. Kids have cereal for dinner.
Fail miserably at camp fire with wet wood while kids play in the snow. Wonder if cabin neighbors are secretly laughing at me.
Kids watch about 20 mins of 'The Little Mermaid' and then want to go to bed.
Decide Keelan and I should probably sleep together.
Son will only sleep on top of sleeping bag. Son pushes sleeping bag out from under him and asks me to pull it back up. In the process, accidentally push son head first into the end of the bed. See Parent of the Year award vanish before my very eyes.
Everyone sleeps fitfully.

Day 2
Kids wake up right on time at 7:30 am.
Ask for cereal and then don't eat it.
I realize that it's snowing out. And freezing ass cold. Decide that I really don't want to stand out in the snow with the camp stove to boil water for coffee. Decide to drive to town and pay someone else for coffee (after snow stops).
Walk out to go to bathroom, hit ice in parking lot and fall on my ass. Hope no one saw.
Cabin neighbor asks if we're from California.
On the way to the car, daughter hits same patch of ice and suffers same fate. Has meltdown.
Drive to town.
Order a gigantic coffee (for all-day drinking), breakfast sandwich, and waffles for the kids. Kids reject waffles after eating the whipped cream and chocolate chips off. Kids whine to go back to the cabin, so I forgo stopping at the grocery store.
Kids play in snow.
Decide that we should take a hike (literally). Discover quickly that trails are covered with ankle deep mud. Knowing that there's a pond somewhere along the trail, direct kids down steep muddy hill. Reach bottom off steep muddy hill, spend approximately 30 seconds looking at frozen pond. Start hiking back up steep muddy hill. Son starts to whine that he's tired of walking. I tell him I can't carry him up the hill. He starts to cry. Crying escalates to wailing as we hike all too slowly back up steep muddy hill. Wailing continues all the way back to the cabin. No more hiking. Observe trail mud:


Kids play in snow. And mud puddles. Keelan enjoys putting rocks in said puddles.
Try to teach kids to play 'Chutes and Ladders' while waiting for clothes and gloves to dry. Kids tire of it after about five minutes. Do some coloring and puzzles.
Kids play in snow and mud.
Have Cheez Its, graham crackers, and oatmeal for dinner. Watch some more 'Little Mermaid'.
Everyone goes to bed at 7:30.
Son coughs and coughs. Get up and fetch cough meds. He finally falls asleep.
Meds wear off at 4 am. Son starts coughing again. Give another dose of cough meds. Get three more hours of sleep.




Day 3

Kids get up early again.
Coralie wants to have Cheez Its and an orange for breakfast. Son wants dry pix (Kix in 3 year old boy speak).
Start packing.
Realize cars are frosty and parking lot is icy.
Coralie wants to go outside, but she's on her last pair of pants and everything else is wet and/or dirty. Stall.
Realize that son has no clean pants left at all.
Manage to re-pack car in a reasonably orderly fashion.
Worry about ice in parking lot, but the sun is out and I want to go home.
Carry son to car in pj's with no shoes.
Manage to get out of parking lot without sliding into someone else's vehicle.
On the way out, talk to park host, who wonders why we're leaving so early. Tell him we had a good time but it's time for the kids to get home. He laughs.
Uneventful drive home.




So, there it is, our first no-dad-camping-trip. No serious injuries, not too much mayhem. I didn't eat out twelve times or come home with any useless souvenirs. Success.