Camping With the Family

Remember I told you it was Sport's Birthday Weekend? When we asked him early on how he wanted to spend his birthday, he told us the only thing he wanted was to go camping....

CAMPING??? Are you serious??

Honestly, when our older kids were little, we could only afford camping so we did it several times every summer. Since we have gotten older, we tend to like to be comfortable and I have never used the words comfort and camp in the same sentence (until now). Needless to say, we haven't been camping in years. I'm not sure how many years, but Curly mentioned today that he never remembers camping with his family and he is 12...

I was not exactly sure what Sport was hoping for, but we started making plans. My sweetie recommended that we reserve the pavilion the guys went to for Fathers and Sons several years ago. It was very reasonable and exactly what we needed. Then we ordered cots for the three oldest people who live in my house. Honestly, I have trouble being comfortable in my own bed which is adjustable and covered with memory foam.

Camping with the family on the Birthday Weekend means way more than just the people in my house, so I put out a message on Slack and waited somewhat impatiently to see what my grownup kids would do. I had to prompt several of them (ask Crafty what it means when you get a text that simply says "slack"), but eventually, they were all on board. Not everyone planned to stay. Since we were Sunday night to Monday morning, that made it difficult for those who work and eventually, Beauty and The Beast and their littles as well as Crafty and Drama Queen all left without spreading a sleeping bag. They did stay well into the dance party and the older girls stayed until after the movie.

But I am getting way ahead of myself. We started Sunday morning with church and then Sport being ordained an Elder right afterward. That brought almost everyone to our house for lunch and then we left in various vehicles for the hour-long drive to Springville Rotary Park. My sweetie and I drove our van and Sport brought my car so we could carry the incredible amount of stuff it takes to go camping.

While everyone hung hammocks, set up tents, and got settled, my sweetie and I began staging the dutch oven dinner. Fortunately, Dog Walker gathered a crew to help him assemble our tent. After chicken stew and peach cobbler, games of ultimate frisbee and baseball, as well as some card games, my sweetie set up the movie screen. Crafty turned on some music and we all made wolf'ems.

Then it was time for a movie. Since we had so many little boys with us, my sweetie put on Cars. We hadn't seen it for years, but it was perfect for these little guys. Some of the adults stayed in the pavilion and played cards and others put their babies to bed. 

After the movie was over and midnight was looming large in the size of the moon, we made our way to our tents to sleep. The other parts had been so fun that we were all talking family reunion every year...

The night was not kind to us old people. Our cots were as comfortable as they could be, but the wind was noisy and my back was sore. My sweetie was up a couple of times with cramps in his legs...

Finally we got up around 6:00 am. My sweetie made bacon and eggs and Bean Dip took over my duties by making huge and delicious pancakes (he is a way better cook than I am...). Tents started coming down and cars were loaded. One of my little grandsons sat at the breakfast table with tears silently running down his cheeks and into his chocolate milk. He didn't say anything, but I knew. How could his very first camping trip be over?

That moment I decided that even if we were completely uncomfortable and camping was way harder than staying in a hotel, we would do this again. Maybe even make it that family tradition. 

I wonder if they make adjustable cots...