camping

Wander took us on a group camping trip over the long weekend. Wander took Friday off from work and we took Friday off from school. Wander spent the morning doing last minute packing, and I decided that I didn't have a book to bring and went on a last minute shopping trip with the girls to pick up a copy of "Learning Python."

Several snarls of traffic turned the five hour road trip into six hours. Thankfully Glitter slept most of the way. When we got there, Sparkle immediately commented about the smell - she hates the smell of cow. The ground was also littered with "cow pies" and I had to carry Sparkle out of the car to a relatively clean spot before she stopped whimpering. Fortunately, the cow pies became were forgotten as soon as the girls found other kids to play with. They were running through the fields as if there was nothing stinky and squishy in the way at all.


Here's some pictures of our campsite. I thought I took a picture of the entire setup, but I can't find it. We had three "buildings" - the main tent for sleeping, a potty tent, and a screened room. Our setup was by and large the most extensive of the group's (except for maybe the family with 10 kids). Some other people in the group had a hammock and not much else.



I got to learn how to make yeast bread from scratch in a dutch oven, and Glitter helped me kneed the dough.


It rained on Saturday and Sunday. At one point there were six kids in our tent trying to stay dry.


As for the next picture - it's a June bug being toasted on a Coleman lantern. You probably don't want to know why.


Trade blanket was really neat. Everyone brings things they are interested in trading to the site and sits in a big circle around the blanket. The first person places what he wants to trade on the blanket. If anyone is interested in it, he makes an offer by placing what he's willing to trade for it on the blanket. Several people can make offers, and then the original person chooses which trade, if any he wants. Don't be afraid to make an offer, and don't be insulted by any offer. It's a wonderful social opportunity, even for those who don't make any trades.


Here's Sparkle learning how to tie rope.


The kids loved playing in a make-shift hammock.



Just before leaving, some of the kids found this turtle.


Sorry for not writing more. It's all fading from my brain. I spent most of the time in the shade trying to not get too exhausted. Most of Saturday I was a lap for Glitter to sit in as she kept getting poked and scraped by the nature around us. By the end of the trip Sparkle's legs were a mass of welts from insect bites, but she was too busy running around with the other kids to care. There was so much more that happened, but Wander will also be blogging about it on his blog, and his writing is much more entertaining than mine. (He'll probably go into the gory details about the June bug.)