Camping Trip

We were planning to go camping on Memorial Day weekend, starting on Sunday night since Glen had taken the night off. I asked him if the kids and I could go on Saturday night. We both thought that would be fine. My first mistake.

I planned to go to Cedar Rapids with the kids on Saturday morning to Molly's graduation, then get groceries for the camping trip before coming home. I underestimated how long everything would take. That was my third mistake. My second mistake was not packing a thing on Friday night.

While we were eating pizza for lunch at Happy Joe's with my parents and an aunt and uncle who were also in town for the graduation, I told Mom that I didn't have to hurry home because Glen and I were driving separately to the campground. My fourth mistake. After buying groceries, I was almost home when I met Glen (pulling the camper) going the other way. It didn't take me long to realize that I had nothing packed in the camper! I had to pack the food into coolers (instead of directly into the refrigerator and cupboards in the trailer), clothes into bags (instead of carrying them out to the trailer in laundry baskets and putting them away in the closets), and try to remember whether or not there were already toothbrushes and toothpaste in the trailer. I made a LOT more work for myself.

I was able to have things mostly ready by the time Glen got back with the truck, which I then had to drive to the campground because there was no way that everything would have fit into the van. I told Glen I might just get the kids McDonald's in Center Point, but he didn't want to let me off the hook that easily. :) We got to the campsite, unloaded the truck and got supper together and the kids fed by about 8:30. They were having a blast. At one point, Tate told me that he'd gone #2, but I think I just asked him if he'd wiped good and washed his hands, and he told me yes.

When I told the kids to get ready for bed, Britta started complaining that Tate was stinky. It is not unusual for the girls to complain about Tate's being stinky, but I went to check it out. He was trying to put something in the bathroom sink without my seeing it, but he couldn't rinse it down fast enough. I was losing it a little bit when I asked him if that was poop and where it had come from (he answered yes, and from my butt--which he had NOT wiped!). I turned both of the faucets on full blast, then when I decided that I should just have the hot water running, he was trying to wash his hands at the same time and started screaming because the water was really hot. I then tried to turn it off quickly but turned it the wrong way (not very hard!) and broke the faucet. The hot water was running full blast with no way to turn it off. We found that we could slow it to a trickle by pushing down as hard as we could on the faucet handle. Britta got my cell phone, and Glen was able to tell me how to turn the water off completely for the trailer. I admit I've been spoiled by having running water in the trailer, but one reason I wasn't too worried about camping without Glen was because I did have a toilet and wouldn't have to leave the kids alone (or take them all with me) to go to the bathroom and shower. But we managed! And I was even early for church the next morning. We went to CR early for Molly's party, and Glen was able to get a plug for the water line so that he could turn the water back on; we just didn't have it in the bathroom sink. He's still laughing about it as he's installing the plugs: But he didn't end up putting the plugs in until Monday BECAUSE: there were tornado watches all day, and by the time we got back to the camper and got the TV hooked up to watch the weather report, we heard about the tornados that had hit Parkersburg and Hazleton (where deputies were checking to make sure residents were accounted for. Since Glen had taken the night off, he knew they were shorthanded so he called and volunteered to go in. The declined but asked him to stay available. I quickly pointed out that he would be more easily available at home, so we went home and spent the night in our basement and returned to the campground on Monday morning.
The boys played on this train at the campground.
Sammy's quote during our eggs/bacon/sausage breakfast: "My favorite animals are cows and pigs, because that's where all the good stuff comes from!"
Glen and Chase on the paddleboat. Chase is blowing bubbles. What more could a little boy want?
Sammy and I took our turn on the paddleboat.

Glen's aunt, his sister and her family, my parents, and our neighbors joined us for a cookout on Monday evening. Britta, Chase, Chelsea and Tate rode the Lazy Train. I left for work from the campground the next morning, and Glen and the kids packed everything up and went home. A memorable weekend!