This week’s Laundry picture comes courtesy of me and our
camping excursion (ok not excursion, it was to a lake 20minutes away with high
six figure homes around them but it was sleeping in a tent, so it was camping)
this past weekend.
Some friends of ours asked if we would like to accompany
them on a camping trip. Let me pause here. We have not been a camping family in
the past. We have sleeping bags but they were $30 Targets specials. We had a
tent but it was only used for backyard camping and Alex broke the zipper so it
was junked. We had purchased a new tent from Costco a couple of months ago but
that was for the purpose of backyard camping and upcoming scout campouts. Mandy
and I hadn’t been camping since before we were married. We love to hike, the
boys and I love to fish, but camping, hadn’t been done. So when Mandy enthusiastically
said yes, I (being the resident family worry wart and party pooper) was a
little concerned. We conveyed to our friends that we had no cooking gear and
the bear essentials (get it outdoors bear not bare. I kill myself) to go
camping overnight, much less the two nights they were proposing. They said just
get up here, bring some food and we’ll take care of the rest. Ok, camping on.
To ease my mind Mandy reminded me that we had some really
nice sleeping bags stored away at a storage facility, or Mandy’s parents’ house
if you want to get technical, ready for our use. We had the new tent to use.
They would take care of the cooking; we only had to provide lunch on Saturday
(hello sandwiches, no flame involved there).
Mandy was awesome during the week proceeding. With me being a bum and
not wanting to go and continually pouting, she packed and arranged almost everything.
The only thing I insisted on was a sleeping pad for her, the boys and I could
rough it on the ground (my back is still pissed at me for that decision). Car
packed, boys loaded, beer in the cooler, bug spray packed, and away we went.
We arrived and setup camp with no issues (marriage survived
setting up a tent in the outdoors, check), so we headed down to the lake (reservoir)
to scope out the beach. It’s we when arrived on the beach that I realized what
a horrible parent I had become. I grabbed some rocks and started skipping them across
the water. Alex was enthralled that I could do that and that is when I realized
I had a nine year old boy who had never skipped rocks across a lake. That is
when I vowed we were going to spend more time in the great outdoors. How could
a boy not know how to skip rocks? I had failed as a father. Sure he can fish
and knows how to handle a pocket knife but how could I have failed this?
The rest of the trip was a complete success. Well other than
the teenage boys that kept us up most of the night in the next camp over and
the whole sleeping on the ground thing. I am not in my early 20’s anymore where
sleeping with a mound of hard pack earth in the middle of my back is easily
overcome the next day. Other than that, camping went off without a hitch. We
cooked hotdogs over an open flame. Had some s’mores, pancakes and bacon, enough
licorice to drop a horse, chips, instant coffee (bleh), all the food a good
campout requires. We spent most of the next day on the beach and in the lake
swimming. I had forgotten how fun it was to swim in the great outdoors. I think I had
more fun than the kids did. My friend had brought a wrist rocket that we taught
all the kids how to use. Saw a great horned owl in a tree above our camp (sorry
pictures didn’t turn out). Connor discovered the pure relaxation of a hammock
between two trees.
It was a great overnighter. Two regrets: not taking fishing
poles and lack of sleeping pads. Other than that everyone had a great night.
A little story about the rock that came out of the laundry
that is pictured above. Saturday morning while all the kids played in the
water, Connor was getting in the water, getting out, looking at rocks and bringing
us the best looking ones. Alex was getting in the water, getting out, looking
at the rocks and skipping the best ones across the lake. Rocks to boys young
and old are fascinating for some reason. Like moths to a flame, show a boy a cool
rock and he is entranced. I am no exception. I found this rock while watching
them play and Connor agreed it was the best rock found on the trip, while Alex
said it would skip the best across the water. I sided with Connor and decided
to keep the rock, especially after he told me the rock looked like a Dorito.
We are already planning at least two camping trips next year
and will start accumulating the proper gear to make it happen. Yes, a good, no
a very good sleeping pad will be included in that list.
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