Life Lessons Courtesy of A Camping Trip

picture taken of a barn on the way to the campsite

1. You can never have too many bottles of Off insect/mosquito repellent
2. Bring a jacket, the weather gets crazy sometimes. The sunny horizon does not necessarily mean sun. It just might be the polluted air from the nearby city.
3. Exposing your legs to get a tan works better in beaches, not camping trips. You run the risk of getting mosquito bites the size of Texas or as plentiful as the 7100 islands of the Philippines.
4. Load up on water. For brushing your teeth, drinking, washing, you name it.
5. Check if your tent really is waterproof. Just because it came from Sears doesn’t mean it is.
6. Kids will run around and behave like kids running amok. Even the most well behaved ones turn into cavemen when they’re in nature.
7. The mere sight of a body of water inspires kids to soak up all their body parts. Make sure you bring lots of change in clothes.
8. You will discover certain species of insects and animals you never encountered before in your life.
9. That small black piece of something might not be charcoal.  
10. Despite all the mosquito bites, dirty kids, long drive and yucky insects they caught, the sight of your kids happy and content makes it all worthwhile.

Our First Camping Trip

We just got back from our very first camping trip. Exhausted but happy and content, my kids ask for the Caladryl to rub on their mosquito bites. They don’t complain how itchy, red and bumpy the ugly marks are. For them I think it is more or less a testament to the fun they had.

This trip was our very first. We’ve planned so many times to go camping but decided against it for a number of reasons:
1. the kids were much too young
2. we didn’t want to go alone
3. have you heard and read all those horror stories about camping trips??? one child was snatched from his tent by a bear!

But we decided to throw caution to the wind and went ahead with our plans. We went with 4 other families. There is still  safety in numbers so we thought we’d be fine. And we’re glad we did. It was such a great experience! The campsite was built like a cul-de-sac so the individual campsites were almost facing each other and the bathroom was centrally located. Okay, so there was a bathroom. And electricity. We cannot live without those two. Let’s break it gently, shall we? Let’s not be harsh here. We are about a few more weeks shy of roughing it.

The camping trip was planned and paid for months in advance. Friday went on without a hitch, the boys enjoyed themselves! And by boys, I mean the 2 sons and the DH! For once, we were in a place where the boys can roam free without the fear of strangers lurking in the shadows or being run over by a speeding car. Okay, so I might be exaggerating just a teeny, tiny bit.

It was really liberating for them. They played with all the other kids we went with. Food was plentiful, as if we were preparing for the great famine or feeding an army. The boys went fishing, crabbing and swimming. I took pictures and ate and talked to the other Moms and ate and  just relaxed. I think I just gained 5 pounds. But, oh well, so what?