When we drove up to the campground, it looked so pretty from the car. Then we opened the car doors to get out and got swarmed by mosquitoes. The only bug repellent we had was some Chinese concoction we bought in Taiwan, which apparently only repels Chinese mosquitoes because the American mosquitoes loved it!
No sooner had Nate got the tent up than a bee flew inside. The kids and I were inside the tent when the bee came in, so it was up to me to save their lives. I threw a blanket over the bee and went to toss him outside, which turned out to be a bad idea because a bee can still sting you through a blanket, you know. Right on my thumb. I'd never been stung by a bee before, and they are mean! My hand was on FIRE, and it throbbed all the way up my arm clear into my teeth! Luckily there were some snowy patches on the ground, and the kids had fun bringing me little snowballs to hold on the sting. That was just the fun of the first day!
No, that doesn't mean "thumbs up-we're having so much fun", it means "This is where the bee stung me, and camping stinks!"
The boys had a ball playing in the dirt, rolling in the dirt, throwing dirt in the fire, throwing dirt at each other, and Ashton even tasted some dirt. Did I mention the dirt? Dirt's everywhere when you're camping, and some people say "It's so great that you don't have to worry about being clean!" Well, call me crazy, but I sort of enjoy being clean!
We did have some really good dutch oven food, and I got to make banana boats which I hadn't had since girl's camp (the year I burned my tent down. Yes, really.) And I got a great picture of the fire. We'll try it again next year because I have boys, and boys like this kind of thing, and I can endure a little misery for one night every year so that they can have fun childhood memories. So it really doesn't matter if I enjoy it, the important thing is that they do!
5 comments:
I was just thinking about you LAST NIGHT. I had read about the storms that hit Taiwan and wondered how close you guys were to the cities with the mud slides.
I was very happy to see that you've updated, good luck with the unpacking, your hair looks great, and camping IS dirty.
You are SOOOO our YW assistant camp director!! :D
You are such a good sport. I go camping with my in-laws to a place they love and I would like it if they would just leave the dirt alone. But the mother-in-law doesn't like dirt blowing around and turns it all to mud. I think if she still had children sleeping in her tent she would like the dirt better.
Tip: Brush your teeth often when you're camping. = ) That way your mouth is always CLEAN and you have one place that's dirt FREE. Girl, you would've been a rotten pioneer. I guess it's a good think you were born in the 70's, eh?
It will get better! I now go camping each year with just the girls and most of us LOVE it. (there is one friend who thinks that we are going to be eaten by bears each year)
Love your hair! Hope to see you soon!
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