There was a time in my life when I had a very idealized view of camping with my family. Ollie and I had a "Camping" themed shower when we got married and collected all sorts of cool camping stuff. If you've ever browsed the camping aisle in any store you know all the cool stuff there is for camping. My family didn't camp but Ollie's did and I wanted to be Ms. Outdoorsy and really get into camping. I still have that dream but it hasn't come to much. I love the "idea" of camping but the reality of camping is a very different thing. I really am not a good sport about camping. I try but I almost always have a bad attitude at the beginning of any night of camping. I ultimately get over it and have fun (sort of) but I just wish I could approach it more positively from the beginning. I think part of my problem is the way we camp. We have never camped more than one night in the same location and usually use camping as a place to stay for the night. So we never get settled and do cool things like string lights in the tree around us (I've ALWAYS wanted to do that!!). Usually we camp after a long day of driving and we pull into the campground around dinner time--we are hungry and tired. We pitch the tent, pull out the camp stove, cook dinner, clean up dinner, and then go to bed. Often much of this is done in the dark. And did I mention that camping is dirty? My Birks (the only shoes I wear) are always sandy and dirty and my adult-onset-of-sensory-integration-disorder really struggles with sandy, gritty, dirty feet. I struggle through all of this trying to be happy and bless my family with a cheerful, peaceful momma and wife. Sometimes I succeed at faking it and end up having a good time but more often than not I don't. And sometimes I downright meltdown. After every camping trip I say to myself--I'm going to plan a weekend camping trip to someplace really cool and I'm going to be organized and not stressed out and I'm going to cook good food and string cool white lights and put a tablecloth on the table and have the kids make a centerpiece from something they've found around the site and we are going to stay for more than one night and we are going to build campfires and make s'mores and and and and....I've yet to do it. On this trip we camped three times. Here's a synopsis of those three campouts--
- The first night that we camped was in Western Tennessee and that was the night that it started pouring while we were pitching the tent. Oh and the mosquitoes were awful! Thank goodness for bug spray. I almost cried out of sheer frustration but mostly held it together. Thankfully the rain stopped long enough for us to make dinner that we had to eat sitting at a dirty, slimy picnic table. We all did dishes together and I made a remark about camping in rain. I was trying to make light of the situation and find my good attitude. Ollie's response wasn't what I wanted it to be and I snapped at him and a good ol' argument ensued. Goodbye good attitude. Overnight the rains started again and our tent flooded at all the edges--picture big pools of water. Hannah's pillow was soaked. Thankfully our bags and sleeping bags stayed mostly dry. When we woke up I just wanted to pack up and get on the road and then some man offers us some firewood and Ollie accepts. Ugh!! I was annoyed and stressed but it turned out to be such a blessing. Not only did this man give us firewood but he also built the fire for us and talked to us for about a half hour. The kids loved the fire and played with sticks and burning paper (safe, huh?) while we packed up and cleaned up. I also got a chance to dry out my slimy, wet shoes. After the clean up we all got showers and headed out.
- Our second night camping was after a week in Chicago. We camped in Ohio at a pretty nice campground. It had a great playground and mini golf. Again I was tired and irritable and worried about rain and had to have a moment. I kept it private and prayed my way through...setting up went great, dinner was easy, the weather was cool, we were set for a nice night. Ollie and the kids played mini golf and I kept score after dinner. As we were headed to the park office to return our clubs three carloads of teenagers pulled in--it was 9 pm by this time. I looked at the campground and saw plenty of spots that they could go to that were nowhere near us. Unfortunately the sites right in our "backyard" were most appealing to them. They pitched their tents no more than 20 feet away from us. Thankfully they were quieter than I thought they'd be but still. They were 20 feet away from us. I slept HORRIBLY that night, I was freezing and the ground was crazy hard. Morning was a blessing and we got on the road with no big problems.
- Our third night of camping was the night before we arrived home. We looked at the forecast before we left VA and saw that the whole coast was going to be covered in rain all day and all night. Ollie had really wanted to camp on the coast. I got my hopes up that all that rain would mean that we would either drive straight through and go home or stay in a hotel. When the rain didn't make an appearance and we ended up camping I just fell apart. We were at a campground in a wooded are and it was moist, dirty, and mosquitoey. I'll be honest here--I sat on the back of the car and cried while Ollie put up the tent alone. I had truly had it--two weeks away and I was done. Ollie did all the work and then took the kids swimming at the beach. I sprayed myself down with bug spray and buried my head in a book and snapped at or looked viciously at anyone who tried to say anything to me. The quiet time reading settled me down and I resigned myself to make the best of it. We cooked dinner in the tent because of the bugs and dirt and moistness outside. That proved to be...interesting but tasty. The other two nights we camped we ate beef stew. This time we had a kit to make chicken marsala and it was really good. Then I found out we had wi-fi and I managed to be a happy camper. I woke up at 5 to the sound of raindrops and I woke Ollie up and we quickly packed up and got out just ahead of a big rain. Less than 5 minutes down the road it was pouring and the streets were so wet it looked like it had been raining a long time. God truly spared me of that rainstorm.
Enjoy the pics from camping--there aren't many of them. I don't usually snap many pictures when I am all stressed out.
