Memorial Weekend Notes

Our planned camping trip was off to a rocky start Friday afternoon. D had a kind moment...or should I say, convenient moment and dropped the kids off after lunch. I was still packing, and packing and packing...rainy day activities, fishing stuff, hiking stuff, swimming stuff, tunes, books, blankets, coolers full of food stuffs, charcoal...and so on. I had the trunk and every inch of free space in the car packed full! All to drive 20 minutes away to the local campground at Hills Creek Lake. But I was pretending to be far away...and who knew that it would work.

Before leaving, tragedy struck. Derek was playing with his lizards and burned his two fingers on the heat lamp. OOOHHHH the wailing. I mean wailing! That delayed us a good 25 minutes, soaking fingers, watching tv to distract him from his unbearable agony, doctoring...finally (and I know it really hurts, but if anyone had heard him they would have been sure he lopped off his fingers, not just blistered the tips) we were off. But then I realized I needed a fishing license because on this trip, I WAS NOT FORGOING FISHING! Then I realized maybe I might need a beer to go with my book and campfire, so stopped and picked up some Lager, and we needed bait...aye ya aye...

We got there at 3:30. Derek was tickled with the small cabin, saying "This is great, Mommy!" It was great. We had everything we needed but water. Hmmm. So we unpacked...forever it seemed, then scared up some wood and more ice for the coolers. When we got settled in, we walked over the bank to the lake. It was raining, of course. But it was awesome. The kids had a blast walking in the swampy edge looking for tadpoles and frogs. I just enjoyed how beautiful and peaceful it was. We walked for awhile then went back to cook dinner. I didn't bring my grill and so had to build a fire to cook my still frozen chicken. It took awhile, but we had that, corn and baked beans I had made earlier, and ate inside the cabin at the table. We headed back to the lake, with another little boy camping nearby about Derek's age, for a last frog hunt before turning in. We found a beaver swimming about in the lake and followed him for quite awhile thinking he would come ashore. He didn't, but it was awesome to watch. By that time, the rain was lighter and a fog had settled. It was so peaceful....and nice.

The kids were filthy, it was at least nine o'clock (I purposely didn't bring a clock) so we went to the showers. That was cool, the kids loved getting in there with no splash, hot water or time restrictions, so I could enjoy myself without worrying about them tearing up the bathrooms too much. We headed back to the cabin, read some books and went to sleep in a really decent bed. Yes it was NICE.

The next morning, I got up early, built a fire and made eggs, bacon and toast. YUM. I even made coffee...on a campfire. I read my book while Derek slept and Dalton played. It was NICE!
After breakfast we went fishing and traveling along the hiking path around the lake. Dalton caught the first fish, a blue gill, and then I caught several more. Derek found some dragonflies and more frogs. We headed back to camp for lunch then went to the beach area to swim. I read some of my book while the kids created sand structures, then I helped them a little. We had ice cream cones and played at the playground. And it was sooooo....you know, nice.

We had dinner, hamburgers cooked on an open flame, it is my favorite now, kids played with the other boys in the area...(and got totally taken advantage of in hide and seek as he was the youngest), roasted marshmellows, told stories, Dalton sang his continents and oceans songs into the quiet night and we all fell fast asleep after a book in our cabin. I never even took the opportunity to have one of those beers. It was the greatest weekend.

Sunday, we went to visit my grandmother and uncle, and a new friend visiting from australia. We had a picnic, loaded kids and aunts and uncles and cousins into the backs of two trucks for a ride on Graham hill..property that has been in our family for years and years. It truly is wilderness with roads that barely resemble roads and lots of wildlife. We stopped at three old family hunting camps where we saw pictures of people long gone with their deer and doing the man thing at the cabin. We had a bonfire, marshmellows and told more stories, mostly of my grandfather who I never knew but is so alive in others. My grandmother ended the weekend with one comment. "I have always said, if you do anything in your life, make memories because when you get old that's all you have." She is so right. And I did make many wonderful memories with my family these four days.

*Post camping notes. Lighter on the CD's. More kids clothes. MORE JUGS OF WATER! Better fishing gear (I had to use my keys to try to disgorge a hook, well, it worked). Less indoor activities and more buckets for critters. Dont' forget tooth paste and bring a hatchet.