You Can't Buy Memories Like These

I have had a life long dream of touring the country in an RV. An RV, not a tent. In any event, since I have a need for every holiday to be a delightful memory for my children, I thought we would camp this weekend. In a tent.

Friday afternoon, we arrived at the lake. My sister-in-law and her husband (who own a camper) were staying at the same campground. They had just bought a scooter the night before, and so we all took turns riding the scooter.

We had brought some Jiffy Pop along and Michael tried to make some. Here are the results of his first attempt:



The second batch was more successful.



I was actually having a good time at this point.

Then:

We went to bed, only to be awoken about 3 AM to rain...a lot of rain. At 8 AM Madeline woke up, and thought she was really sweaty. It wasn't sweat, rather she was sleeping in a puddle of water. At that point I was thinking "how in the world am I going to get all of these blankets dry by tonight", and then I noticed...Jude had a water stain that looked all too familiar...you know, the kind that shows up on a little boy's shirt when he pees his pants up to his neck? I was. not. happy. Additionally, my pregnant bladder was uncomfortably full, so I put on my water logged sandals and trekked to the bathroom.

Apparently, swarms of mosquitoes also thought the bathroom would be the ideal place to hang out to avoid the rain and since I was the first to venture into the facility that morning, they were all gathered above the toilet. FAN-TASTIC! Who knew it was only the beginning of my morning of mosquitoes. We piled into the van, still in pajamas, soaking wet, and headed to the shower house. I took all of the girls, opened the door, and honestly wanted to cry. There were mosquitoes everywhere; in the lights, in the toilets, dead on the floors in droves, flying around. It was disgusting. After giving Isabella a shower, and discovering how incredibly hard it is to give a small child a shower and get them dressed while holding them aloft in the air, we went to the van and the rest of us changed in the van...with our untinted windows.

Since my sister-in-law and her family were all still sound asleep in their cozy, dry, air-conditioned camper, we decided to do the only thing possible: head to Wal-Mart. At Wal-Mart, dry sleeping bags and an extra air mattress were purchased. After killing as much time as possible, we headed to "THE VISITOR CENTER". On a good day, the visitor center may provide for about 20 minutes of entertainment, yet on this day the light bulb was burned out on the projector so we were not able to view the informational movie. We decided to visit the "museum" which consisted of, well, lots of dead animals.

And this is where the fun began.

First, Eva sheepishly began to pet the Red Fox.



This started a trend in which all of the children decided it would be fun to pose by the various deceased creatures.



It escalated when Michael decided to pose under the coyote as if it were attacking him...and Isabella broke the poor coyote's ear off. (It still hangs by a thread).



And then, there was the pose that I was certain would result in our being expelled from the visitor's center: Michael and the Beaver.



Seriously. You can't buy memories like these. (Honestly, I don't even know what that means...does one even buy memories??)

We drove back to my sister's campsite since it was STILL raining. I scrambled some eggs, and we sat around. I got a headache, and became increasingly frustrated by the dismal outlook of the forecast.

Suddenly, it stopped raining. We decided to head back to the other side of the lake and walk on the dam. Michael had a renewed interest in fishing and so we went back to Wal-Mart where he purchased some bait...live bait...and put it in my cooler of food.

And because it wouldn't be a trip with our family if it didn't happen, our van died. Michael pushed it backward so we could get it jumped and then for some reason, it turned over. We headed back to camp. His sister called and said they had a pontoon boat for two hours so we needed to turn back around and come to the marina.

The kids loved the boat.









Our evening in the tent was slightly drier than the one before, but by Sunday morning I was ready for a shower and a reunion with my toothbrush, so we packed up and headed out.

Michael says he will never take me camping again. At this point, I'm not sure I want to go again...unless there is an RV involved.