On the way to our campground we got lost. Yes, I think we really win the stupid reward for driving. The directions seemed fairly straighforward to me, but somehow, somewhere, we got turned around. We started to get grumpy at each other, both of us having a mind to go a different route. I was supposed to be navigating, but wasn't doing a good job at it! Our communication fizzled. Wes got angry--he doesn't like to drive when he's not sure where he's going. I can't blame him, I'd be stressed out too. Especially at the end of a long, fun, but tiring day. I wanted to stop and look at the map with Wes so we could have a minute to think out where we were. But he wouldn't stop. He just kept driving hither and thither 'till he got it figured out. After that, he was quite irritable for the rest of the night, even after we got to our campsite.
It was 9:30 when we arrived and the sun had just slipped down. We rolled out our sleeping bags on a tarp on the ground and hung out our wet pool clothes to dry on a railing surrounded by vegetation. The kids caught fireflies--their first ever--while Wes and I set a few things up around the camp. They were so fascinated by the glowing bugs (me too!). We had brought little bug cages speciffically for fireflies and were glad we could put them to good use. The kids kept their "pets" overnight and let them go in the morning. We wanted to buy firewood, but it was too late, so we roasted hot dogs over the camp stove. We had chili with them and ate crackers and Nutella for dessert. It was a throw-together, late-night dinner, but the kids loved it.
After dinner I took the noisy kids for a brief walk in the dark. I wanted to settle them down. There were only a few patrons at the campground, so I wasn't too worried about disturbing people, but it was almost 10:30 by this time, so I thought getting the rowdy, jumping kids out of the campsite and on a quiet, star-gazing walk would soothe us. I had the kids sit down in the middle of the road (because it was the only place devoid of trees) and we looked up at the blazing stars. This was nothing like Ucky San Bernardino sky. It was outstanding. The kids were awed and you could sense them feeling swallowed up in the sky.
The kids were so excited to see the stars and lightening bugs. We were whispering loudly. I know that is an oxy-moron, but it is the only way to describe six people all trying whisper at once. Her is the sad thing-- I unknowingly picked the one spot in the road that was adjacent to campers. They were in a dark tent, and I couldn't see them. As we were pointing out a satellite, and the kids were talking excitedly, we suddenly heard a loud, "SHHHHH!"
Ooops! I felt so ashamed to have disrupted someone's snoozing! That's just what I was trying to avoid the whole time! We scurried off to a different, unoccupied spot, but it was too late. We had bugged our fellow tenters. They got up at 6 am and packed up and left!
We took a pit stop at the pit toilets right before bed. I am ashamed to say I have raised a bunch of whimps. This is so out of character for my background. All the kids balked and were afraid to go to the potty. Some of them were afraid because the bathrooms were dark. Some where afraid because of the bugs and spiders hanging around. There were quite a few Daddy Long-Legs type spiders and even though the kids know they don't bight, some of them were still frightened. Elias was afraid he might fall into the toilet!
Eventually we got everyone to go--except Ryanne. She absolutely refused. I told her she could pee in the bushes if she wanted to, but she refused that also. The problem was, she really had to go because she'd been holding it in the car for a while. I figured nature would eventually bring her to a solution. Her solution was to get really super angry at me and got to bed crying. She screamed, "Well fine! If I can hold it all day at school, I can hold it all night too!" She did. She insisted on waiting for a "real" toilet and later walked herself a quarter mile up to where the showers were located to see if there were toilets there. There were. We should have timed that stream--or measured the volume! How much can she hold?!
Leah was afraid to go to sleep because of spiders. She also was frightened of the dark. I tried to comfort her, but it didn't help. She finally calmed down and I heard her tell Wes, "Dad, I prayed to be safe and that no spiders will bite me." Then she rolled over and went right to sleep. What faith!
The weather was warm, but not hot; we didn't get cold. I woke up in the morning quite stiff; I had not slept well. It was sun-up, probably around 5:00 am. The birds were so numerous and so loud, I couldn't understand how anyone could possibly stay asleep through it. I haven't heard bird-song that loud and plentiful anywhere I've ever been before. It was amazing. Robins landed and took flight, spinning through the foliage, filling the sky and littering the ground. Woodpeckers knocked away on dozens of trees. Geese honked as they announced their arrivals and departures at the nearby lake. It was quite a symphony. The area was gorgeous. Arriving in the dark the night before left us a grand awakening to a beautiful "Garden of Eden" forest-land. Everything was green and delicious.
Mckay awoke and needed a potty break, so we went off together and took a two mile hike on one of the trails that went down to the lake and back. I noticed as we walked that there were bountiful bushes of poison ivy all around us. Oh dear-- how much of that had we gotten into last night in the dark? I was sure we wouldn't leave without having someone affected by it. When we got back to the campsite there was poison ivy all around the rail we'd hung our swim clothes on. There was also poison ivy along the path to the pit-toilet. I spent the whole morning fussing at all the kids to stay out of the plants! I itched for the next two days and was quite paranoid that several of us would spend the rest of our trip in misery. Amazingly, no one ever got a rash--I felt blessed and protected by the Lord. It could have made the rest of our trip down-right awful.
Back at the camp, everyone woke up with really crazy hair and we all laughed at each other. Daddy woke up stiff and sore (we're getting old) but at least he was happy. Ryanne pointed out an awesome bright red cardinal--a novelty for us west coast people. I let the kids eat as much cereal as they wanted for breakfast--a big "no-no" in our house. They delighted in the food freedom, laughing and joking into their bowls. Mckay laughed in his spoon of milk and it splattered all over his face. Mckay ate 6 bowls of cereal!
No one had any mosquito bites--a miracle. (Knock on wood).
We asked the kids if they liked the hotel or camping better. They picked camping. Except Ryanne who said, "At least the hotel had a toilet!"
We all helped pack the car and upon entering, we all voted Mckay and Leah as the sloppiest, messiest bunch of travellers around! Their shared bench in the back of the car was littered with trash, wrappers, crumbs, toys, books, and other items in great dissaray! We had to spend and extra ten minutes just to clean it out! After that we drove up to the "real" bathrooms and showered--that was refreshing.
Now we're off to Far West and Adam-Ondi-Amen.
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