Buffalo Bob went camping!

It is a miracle... Gene and the family got me to go camping. I am literally the princess and the pea. I only like my bed sooooo... camping doesn't appeal to me. Or, I should say that camping didn't appeal to me. We went this past weekend and had a great time.

Keys for successful camping:

1. Have a designated camp song for the family to sing.

Ours was 'Buffalo Bob Only Ate Baked Beans'.

2. Have a fairly decent crib.

We didn't sleep in a tent but we came pretty darn close. Our tent was an A-Line camper. It was just for sleeping but that is cool since the idea of camping is enjoying the great outdoors. Here's a run down of the weekend.

For future reference...put down the support feet at the back of the camper before you and your spouse go to bed. It could hypothetically tip to one end since there is only one set of wheels and they are in the middle. I guess we didn't have the weight evenly balanced - adults on one end and kids on the other. I vaguely remember something like that in math class.

3. Pick your sight carefully.

We stayed about 40 minutes from our house. That wasn't by accident. I wanted to be able to come back home if I just couldn't take it any longer. The campsite was small - only 25 spaces. When we pulled in we had to do a recon of the entire camping area to pick the perfect spot for us - the one right next to the outhouses. I REFUSE to walk long distances in the middle of the night with critters to powder my nose.

4. Eat junk cooked over an open fire.

The campfire was the best part. We planned simple meals like hot dogs and hamburgers and lots and lots of s'mores. I bet we ate our weight in charbroiled marshmallows. The black crusty outer layer is the best part.

5. Have great weather with lots of fun things to try.

The fall weather was perfect, not too cool and not too warm (well, until it was 40 degrees on Saturday night - which happened to be the night we decided to pack it up and come home).

The First Evening:

Play with campfire. (The girls poked at the fire with sticks and threw everything naturally flammable in it while I nagged and fretted like a good Mom would.)

Eat s'mores.

Day Two:

Fish.

Play at Old School Playground. (Greta and I went for an adventure walk while Gene and Gigi napped. We discovered a great playground. This playground was old school - like I had when I was young. The slide was two stories high and it had a REAL merry-go-round that went so fast you couldn't stand up when it stopped. The girls loved it.)

The Second Evening:

Fix dinner while the girls and Gene went fishing again.

Eat more blackened marshmallows and s'mores. (Don't worry, I continued my constant nagging of the girls getting to close to the fire.)

Play laser tag and look for critters in the woods with our night vision goggles.

Day Three:

Go back to the old school playground.

Have a picnic.

Go Geo Caching. (Gigi is the champ when it comes to finding the micro caches.)

Evening Three:

Go home to sleep in our own warm comfy beds. (The weather continued to get chillier and we hadn't planned for such a cold night.)

The camping didn't stop there. On Sunday the girls and their friends played in the camper all day. We definitely got a lot of use out of that little camper we rented.