Last weekend (the first weekend of August) found our family of 5 camping at Branched Oak Lake near Lincoln with 4 other families from church. It was a first for Elly and Gabe and Mom but a second for Kevin and Isaiah, who did an overnight this spring.
Friday am found us packing up the tent, bikes, coolers, swimming stuff and way too much clothing and sleeping gear in the truck. Yes, it took us all morning and half the afternoon. But we did make it to the campground by check in time at 4. We were the first ones by a long shot. Could have not stressed about the time...lesson #1, camping is not a scheduled activity time.
We got our tent up--something that should have taken 10-15 minutes but took 3 times that long since Gabe was wandering off and Isaiah and Elly were too distracted by bugs and flower picking to help much with set up or Gabe watching. Lesson #2...take a leash for your 2 year old when camping.
Our first night's meal was simple...I had made the sloppy joes ahead so they only needed heating on the camp stove. I let Kev do the "cooking" or burning whichever the case may be. I realized I'd forgotten most of our fruit/veggies in the fridge at home but it was hot and we weren't too hungry anyway. Lesson #3, even with a list, you still will forget things. Do without or mooch.
Sleeping went OK the first night after we'd gathered for the traditional s'mores. Lesson #4--Always pack glow sticks.I had some glowsticks from Target that saved us as far as keeping track of kids. We could tell where everyone was because they glowed neon! And, bonus feature, they work as nightlights (which are something my kids can't live without)!
The next day was a SCORCHER...we were at the beach all morning and most of the afternoon. Good for keeping cool, bad for sun exposure. Lesson #5--Spray on sunscreen is for the birds. Everyone who used it burned. (Thankfully, we didn't learn this one the hard way because we had "tea tree sunblock lotion". I highly recommend it.)All the kids got on the tube with Daddy. And Mommy and Gabe and El got a really "bumpy and fast" ride back to the dock with lots of "bubbles" (water spray). Gabe was thrilled to have a "boat ride"--words that I heard from morning to night while we were there. In fact, he woke the whole tent with those very words--at 6:30 am.
The evening was hot but we kept our spray bottles handy and made frequent trips to the shower and water spigot to soak ourselves. Finally, when we collectively could take it no longer, we wimped out and drove to the nearby town for ice cream in a semi-air conditioned parlor. (Then our family took a trip through the small town on Malcolm and all the way around the lake in an effort to get cooled off and keep the kids busy till bedtime without being soaked.) The kids were beat so they went down OK but it was SO HOT in the tent that I put them all crosswise on the air mattress with me in the middle and sprayed water mist into the air every 2 minutes or so until they were sleeping and then some. It's a testimony to their exhaustion that they didn't even peep when I sprayed them, even in the middle of the night. Lesson #6...If you have an electical outlet at your campsite (we did) bring an electical FAN!!
Sunday was basically everyone up early to pack up and a unanimous vote to move the family camping weekend to (Lesson #7) early JUNE next year. We loved camping...we're just wimps about hot weather. We're thankful for safety and lots of fun and give the Lord the credit for it.
No comments:
Post a Comment