There are no realistic written camping guides out there. All the lying, glossy brochures capture a super happy dad, reeling a huge fish in, wearing a baseball hat, sun glasses, shorts and a tee shirt. There's a care free mom with her happy go lucky children, all wearing big smiles, as warm and fuzzy as the hot sunshine, secluded in a small paradise. Ever notice how the moms are all young, slim and tanned, belonging on a Vogue magazine? Some are even pictured tubing or water skiing. The children are pictured smiling around a campfire, singing songs and roasting marshmallows.
It never rains on the covers of camping guides. Mother is never shown sweating over the picnic table, frantically protecting the food from rain, or running after a toddler running the opposite direction of the washrooms. To answer your question, no. I don't have a toddler, but the campers next door to us sure did, and what a little rascal he was, LOL. Made me grateful for Dayton's current age. The mother is never shown waving with her arm held high, with the fat under her arm waving right back at her. I'd also like to add that the brochures do not mention ticks, and yes, we most certainly did encounter quite a few of those. My poor Dayton got two of them on the same day on the back of his neck. Grandpa got one on his belly, and Glen... This one's funny...
Just after we all go to our beds for the night, Glen crawls out of his bed, walks over to mine and wakes me up. "Check this out!" In a sleepy haze, I see a brown spot on the top of his wrist. "Congratulations, you have a birth mark, now go back to your bed. Show your dad tomorrow. I'm sure he'll be super impressed."
"Seriously, check this out..." I rub my eyes and look a little closer. It looked like a flat body of a spider with really short feet. "It's a tick," Glen says.
"Well, what do you want me to do? You know I hate bugs... get away from me."
"I need to set it on fire."
Now, you'd know how comical this is if you'd ever met Glen. He's a hairy guy. I mean Chubaka hairy. I pray to God my baby doesn't get to be as hairy, but between my genes and Glen's (my arms are so hairy, I shave them in the summer, this summer I'm thinking of waxing), I'm sure my little monkey man doesn't stand a chance.
I hear mom roll over on her bed. "Want some matches?"
"Yeah, that should do it. Thanks." I'm wide awake now, trying to contain my laughter, waiting for Glen to set himself on fire. He lights the match, blows out the flame and presses the burned end of the match to the tick. I'm thinking "dang it! No fire and dance of pain tonight." With the first attempt failing, Glen tries it again, and again, and again. Finally, after four tries, some singed wrist hair, and this all frustrated look, he announces he's pulling the tick out. I thought he should have done this to begin with, but what do I know. This was the first time I'd seen a tick up close.
After pulling the tick out, Glen says he's got to kill it. The only way to kill it is to set it on fire. Would you believe this thing is fire resistant!!! It just would not catch on fire. I finally drowned it in the sink. "Good night everyone. See you in the morning." That was our first night camping.
Our second day at camp, it rained all day. Dayton was losing his mind. He was getting bored, and towards the evening, I allowed him to run around the campfire to do a "sun dance." In the process he ran and knocked over the propane lantern. To say that Glen was a little 'miffed' would be an understatement. Poor kid. I further aggravated Glen by pointing out one of the camper's drawers was busted. Even with two grown men, the drawer still needs repair. We ended the night playing the Phase 10 card game and went to bed.
The Lord must have felt we deserved some sun shine, so our last full camp day we enjoyed some nice weather. The couple next door to us (not the ones with the toddler, the other side of us ;), had a little girl camping with them. The couple seemed nice, and threw bacon to Glen and mom, no doubt feeling sorry for the beggars smelling their cooking and screaming "bacon, bacon, bacon! Bacon good!" The couple (Gwen and Brian) seemed nice enough, so I talked to them and their daughter Alysha. Turns out Alysha is the same age as Dayton, a few months older and a grade ahead of Dayton, but still! A girl Dayton's age! Playing her Nintendo DS!!! Dayton came out of the camper with his DS and when he saw Alysha playing her DS, I swear, his jaw dropped. I invited Alysha to come on over to our campsite with her DS. The two of them were attached at the hip for the rest of our camping trip.
Dayton and AlyshaAlysha's an amazing little girl. I say amazing because Dayton just doesn't play with other children very well. It always ends in a physical fight, or at the very least, a nasty argument. But not with Alysha. No meltdown, no anger, only bliss. So wonderful!!! I just had to exchange contact information with Gwen and Brian. If they hadn't given their contact information, I was prepared to follow them home, no joke. They're a great bunch of people!!! Did I mention their daughter is amazing? They made our camping trip so much fun! They're a great couple, with an awesome sense of humor. So easy to get along with. Not many people like them left around.
Hope everyone else had a memorable May long weekend ;)
As always, consider yourselves hugged,
Lou
