Weary Campers are home!

We are back from our camping weekend!  It was exhausting but a lot of fun.  I can't believe I am headed back to work today but I suppose if I stayed home I wouldn't get rest anyway!  LOL  The kids made me take this pic at our camp site to prove that we got our big honking tent up on our own--except my dear friend L who saved us from swimming in the late night Tstorm that hit--by helping me w/ the fly.  This is a big 6 person tent and not meant to be put up by less than 2 adults so it truly was an achievement.

The campsite was beautiful and quiet. . .  in bear country.  In a campground where there was a bear that had been active.  The registrar gave me and the kids lots of info on this and how to handle ourselves if we saw the "young bear."  Thankfully we did not and trust me my kids and I were close together any time we were at camp.  We tend to move as a tribe anyway but there was a subtle added layer to that this weekend.

Then the registrar said "you know you need to portage in to the site, right?"  Gulp.  No I sure as heck did not know that.  I didn't pick the site really for this gig.  My friends did.  The funny thing is that they didn't know that either.  It was not a long portage, and the camp graciously provided wagons for bringing your gear.  But it did take 3 or more trips to get the stuff there and a real significant learning curve on how to get said wagon down the creek bed, up the hill and onto the path to our site without tipping it over.

There was a bathhouse a long way (1/2 mile) from our site with flush toilets.  Chemical toilets somewhat closer.  And the wash stations  you had to pump your own water.  For my kids it was a fascinating experience as we typically camp at the ocean where there are hot and cold showers not far from our site, running water in the bathroom near by, etc.

It was rustic but beautiful.  And because I pull my kids around in a wagon a lot, on Friday night I borrowed one of the portage wagons and we used that for them to ride in while we got the lay of the land at the campsite. 

I had been hoping for some amazing star gazing as we were far from the street lights that are our norm.  Sadly it was cloudy both nights.  We had a campfire the first night and our friends came over and sat at it with me and our kids romped at the site.  C. and L. loved watching the performances that they would come up with together.  They danced and sang and did lots of silly things that one would only giggle at probably if one was a parent of one of the kids. 

The next morning my kids woke early and A. did as well.  Her parents are not folks who race off anywhere though so after an hour of chatting at the camp site and the kids playing, they gave me the green light to head to the theme park ahead of them and we made plans to meet up at noon.  I'm glad they did as my kids were about to expire with excitement. They were not whining about when we were leaving (to their great credit) but they were positively vibrating with suppressed excitement.

I'll do another post about the 2 parks we went to and post a few pictures.  It was a lot of fun.  Tiring but a lot of fun and I consider it good training for going to Disney next spring! LOL