Sorry burglars, you missed your chance!

So it turns out that you’re not actually supposed to notify the burglars and stalkers until AFTER you return from a trip, so says my friend Debbie. Perhaps I’m also not supposed to mention that we’re back and that I’ve scrubbed all the camping off me. It was tough to get the camping off in the shower, sandwiched such as it was between two thick layers of road trip.

Camping was SO FUN!!!! And by fun, I mean that our tent didn’t leak too very badly and nothing happened that necessitated an emergency room visit.

This, of course, was due to our constant collective vigilance and superior parenting skills, such as when Roger called out, “Samira! Go tell the boys to stop throwing rocks at each other!” Rocks are irresistible to children. I think it was the year before last when the boys invented a game where one of them threw a basketball in the air and the others threw rocks at it.

The reason this game did not gain the popularity necessary to overtake well established professional sports and gain a spot on weekend television is because basketballs are bouncy. Things like rocks bounce right off and occasionally scratch the cornea of the rock thrower. Other than that, it’s a delightfully entertaining game, which after careful consideration and an eye patch, the adults decided to ban. Meaning that this year the boys were forced to take the more direct route of just throwing the rocks directly at each other.

We have a fresh influx of bugs every year. One year we were overrun by fire ants, the next it was bees. Cassie claims there was an infestation of centipedes one trip, although I apparently blocked this from memory. This year brought crickets, cleverly disguised as giant bouncing roaches.

A truly impressive display of thunderstorms turned our three hour drive to the campsite into six after which we began setting up our tents in the pitch black, save for one little lantern which I conveniently ran over with the car after deciding the headlights would do a more thorough job. I'd like to put in a plug for Coleman products, because my lantern still served its purpose even after the telltale crunching noise.

I used to take lots of pictures each trip but never get them developed. This year I streamlined the process even further: I brought the camera but didn’t take any pictures. Next year I might just save that three inches of space in the car. We could certainly use the elbow room.

These pictures from 2004 seem just as good as any. The first one is has me about to go off the rope swing. The other two are of the kids:

I am forever grateful to the Nounous and the Greens for letting us tag along every year, the Langleys and the Cormiers and the families that couldn't make it this time.

Without them we’d never get to go camping, because basically I have no clue what I’m doing and own very little camping equipment. And though I’d never let that stop me, it would hardly be worth it without them. Besides which we’d live on cold cuts and cereal.

THANKS GUYS!

Camping (with you) is THE BEST!!!!!!!!!!!!!