Well, I'm down one camping trip on my 101 in 1001 list!  Woo-Hoo!  Let me tell ya, I learned some lessons this weekend.

We set out Saturday morning in the cold and wet, ready to pitch a tent and enjoy the great outdoors.  Setting up camp went alright.  Gordon and Teeny set to running a muck around the immediate camp sites (in their defense, it has been over two months since they were able to "roam" in the wild. . . we do miss our country living).  It was so cold that I was left with the "feeling" that I needed to cling to Bud-Jack in order to provide him with body heat.  This made chasing children and helping Jason set up camp quite difficult and led to some very snippy behavior on the part of we adults.  The kids were yelled for, scolded, spanked and given the basic impression that they were really getting on the final nerves daddy and I.  What made this poor parental behavior even worse was the older couple at the site next to ours.  Of course, being the wonderful grandparent-type they were, they came over after dinner with Klondike bars for the kids.  The man told Jason, "But just for the kids.  The parents aren't being good."  Eh?  I'm hoping that was sarcasm.  We were snippy, not abusive.  Anyway, it was too cold for ice cream.

It got darker, colder, and more miserable with each passing minute.  We ran out of fuel for the lantern, couldn't find our fire starters, had no cash for firewood, wet firewood just doesn't burn well, and the kids still wanted to run off -- in the dark -- in the woods.  So we did what any American family does -- loaded up in the van to go to Wal-Mart.  But we couldn't find a Wal-Mart.  So, we argued and headed back to the camp.  Jason, as a gesture of good-will, stopped by a convenience store and bought me some Chubby Hubby ice cream (um, didn't I mention to him that I was freezing? still, it was thoughtful).  We got back to the camp, put Gordon in bed and dealt with a screaming Teeny.  We finally all climbed miserably into our cold tent, me with the baby and Jason with the two kids.  It was a miserable night on my end -- so cold, though Bud-Jack didn't seem to mind.  He had a right good time sleeping in the arms of Momma and making her expose her bare back to the freezing temperatures several times in the night.

Though exhausted the next morning, we had a great day.  We were so cold we scratched campfire breakfasts and ran to McD's for sausage biscuits.  After that we FOUND the Wal-Mart and then headed back to the camp for Gordon's first ever fishing trip (can you believe I left the camera at the camp site?).  Jason (I mean Gordon) caught 2 fish which Gordon proudly showed around the nearby playground for all other preschool boys and their parents to see.  The rest of the afternoon was spent playing on the recycled tire playground, cooking an early dinner of hotdogs and going back to the playground.  We ended the day on the appropriate note of smores and were happily talking of how nice this camping trip was and how it had warmed up nicely.  I was even eager to get to sleep. 

But I think the temperature plummetted like 30 degrees after I got in my sleeping bag, for I spent the entire night shivering, staring at the pattern of the moon light through the leaves, praying that Bud-Jack wouldn't wake, and thinking I was going to go insane due to the sheer torture of the cold.  Finally, at the first signs of dawn, I grabbed the baby and the keys and headed to the minivan for some heat. 

We packed quickly yesterday morning and got home by 10:00am.  But, we want to do it again.  We can too.  We learned some things.

1. If the temperature is not comfortable RENT A CABIN for an extra $25 a night.
2. Be prepared -- make sure you have fuel, starter logs, and good fire wood BEFORE you get to the camp.
3. Bring a walker for the baby as well as some baby toys.
4. Don't expect kids to want to do what you think they'll want to do.  Be prepared for playgrounds and lots of walks around the camp.
5. Camp near stuff to do.  While it is all well and good to talk of spending time in nature, lets be real.  An outing a day helps keep the running monkeys at bay.

Yes, we will be camping again soon.  We can't wait!