I always look forward to camping wistfully, and look back on it the same way. I keep the memories of the bad stuff - the horrible loading of the car, fighting kids in the car, the torrential rain, the cold, etc. - in the back while all the good stuff stays front and center. My memory is kind to me sometimes.
Here is the view from our campsite. We didn't get our favorite site this year - some interloper was in there. We've had that site for three years running, so it felt like ours. This site was good, too. Private, although it hardly mattered as there was no one else crazy enough to be camping in such conditions and all the other families had to go back to school after Memorial Day. Our first day was warm and damp, but a cold front came through that night with a howling wind that changed everything. By cold front I mean 40 degrees, the kind where if you leave an arm out of the sleeping blanket to, say, snuggle with your four and a half year old to keep him warm, it goes beyond goose bumps. We survived it pretty happily, though my motherly brain had worries about Popsicle children.
We also had some glorious sunshine, although the temperature never reached 68 degrees, the magical beach opening number. We played out on the dock, went for a great bike ride, enjoyed our sunshine and relative warmth. We hiked even when it was cold and explored the untended woods. So much honeysuckle and buck thorn, very few good plants for Mark to marvel at. Much, much poison ivy. With all the rain, everything was lush and green.
It got cold again that night too, so we slept with our pjs under our clothes. Small (Little Man)thought that was hilarious and kept showing us his pjs under his clothes, except when I wanted to take a picture. We had a happy, magical time out there in the wilderness.
We roasted marshmallows before the sun went down on the coldest night so that we could be warm in the tent before the darkness hit. The last day it rained and we went to the great Discovery Museum in Rockford, where we got in on a discount with our Museum of Science and Industry membership. We spent a good part of the day there, came back to camp and had a soggy, standing dinner in the bug screen over the picnic table. Everyone was good natured about the rain, convinced it would blow over and we'd be find the next day. ("Is it still a glorious day, Mommy?")I'm sure staying the the tent was not the best idea, but our options were limited. Spending a whole night in the bathroom did not seem feasible, especially as most of the kids were sleeping. Medium (Little Missy) has a real fear of storms and was not asleep, but everyone else managed to snore a bit. What started as just a whole lot of wet rain and instructions to keep things off the tent floor where it seeps in, turned into wave after wave of torrential rain with thunder and lightening. We had another one of those storms here last night, it felt much different in the tent.
To call packing up for our departure a challenge is an understatement. I got out of bed during a break in the pouring rain and hopefully put three logs in the fire grate to cheer us up. One of our great improvements this camping trip was the purchase of a cast iron dutch oven at Costco (I kept calling it the best $24 I had spent in a while). We had biscuits every morning but the last and cornbread one night. Fabulous! I thought some hot biscuits would get everyone going happily and we'd be whistling while we worked. The break in the rain didn't last as long as it took me to brush my teeth, but the little fire sputtered on. We ended up feeding the kids crackers and fruit crisps while we loaded the car.
We left Paradise and came home immediately to this: the big, big Pet Parade in La Grange. That, my friends, is an alpaca. There were two in the parade, they didn't look so happy to be there and I'm wondering who got their fleece. Very exciting. Probably the most exciting thing there for this parade grump, it's my least favorite event of the year. The alpacas and the Jesse White Tumblers made it worthwhile for me. I'm already planning our next camping trip of the summer. Makes me happy.
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