Sorry burglars, you missed your chance! | Do Try This at Home: Sorry burglars, you missed your chance!

Monday, September 03, 2007

Sorry burglars, you missed your chance!


So it turns out that you’re not actually supposed to notify the burglars and stalkers until AFTER you return from a trip, so says my friend Debbie. Perhaps I’m also not supposed to mention that we’re back and that I’ve scrubbed all the camping off me. It was tough to get the camping off in the shower, sandwiched such as it was between two thick layers of road trip.

Camping was SO FUN!!!! And by fun, I mean that our tent didn’t leak too very badly and nothing happened that necessitated an emergency room visit.

This, of course, was due to our constant collective vigilance and superior parenting skills, such as when Roger called out, “Samira! Go tell the boys to stop throwing rocks at each other!” Rocks are irresistible to children. I think it was the year before last when the boys invented a game where one of them threw a basketball in the air and the others threw rocks at it.

The reason this game did not gain the popularity necessary to overtake well established professional sports and gain a spot on weekend television is because basketballs are bouncy. Things like rocks bounce right off and occasionally scratch the cornea of the rock thrower. Other than that, it’s a delightfully entertaining game, which after careful consideration and an eye patch, the adults decided to ban. Meaning that this year the boys were forced to take the more direct route of just throwing the rocks directly at each other.

We have a fresh influx of bugs every year. One year we were overrun by fire ants, the next it was bees. Cassie claims there was an infestation of centipedes one trip, although I apparently blocked this from memory. This year brought crickets, cleverly disguised as giant bouncing roaches.

A truly impressive display of thunderstorms turned our three hour drive to the campsite into six after which we began setting up our tents in the pitch black, save for one little lantern which I conveniently ran over with the car after deciding the headlights would do a more thorough job. I'd like to put in a plug for Coleman products, because my lantern still served its purpose even after the telltale crunching noise.

I used to take lots of pictures each trip but never get them developed. This year I streamlined the process even further: I brought the camera but didn’t take any pictures. Next year I might just save that three inches of space in the car. We could certainly use the elbow room.

These pictures from 2004 seem just as good as any. The first one is has me about to go off the rope swing. The other two are of the kids:




I am forever grateful to the Nounous and the Greens for letting us tag along every year, the Langleys and the Cormiers and the families that couldn't make it this time.

Without them we’d never get to go camping, because basically I have no clue what I’m doing and own very little camping equipment. And
though I’d never let that stop me, it would hardly be worth it without them. Besides which we’d live on cold cuts and cereal.

THANKS GUYS!

Camping (with you) is THE BEST!!!!!!!!!!!!!

21 comments:

Maureen said...

Ah, camping.... an activity we used to partake of when young and foolish. Take hours to pack, load up a cooler with questionable meats, set up a tent in the rain, sleep in damp cold sleeping bags, eat burnt food and get the lovely smell of campfires forever in my favorite clothes. Sit in a tiny tent during thunderstorms while rivers formed on the floor sweeping out anything you placed on the ground. Then home again to wash and unpack for days.

Good times, indeed.

Glad to see you back in one piece, although perhaps instead of pictures next year, you can take a pencil and sketch pad and draw us your famous stickmen depicting your outdoor adventures!

Anonymous said...

I love rocks. I brought back many from South Africa (Western Cape). A friend visited me yesterday and she saw the rocks and stones I have scattered around my home and said, "Oh! You collect rocks, too!" My current well, I don't want to play favorites but my current favorite is this one I took out of a tidepool - white with this pinkish stains on it, probably from lichen or somesuch thing. Anyway, I like stones.

I was thinking that the game you mentioned about throwing stones at a tossed basketball sounds like something I'd like. It also shows you how inventive people can be when it comes to entertainment!

I like hot showers too much to make camping my first vacation choice. Pre-contact wearing days I used to enjoy camping.

I haven't camped in, hmm, quite a while. I used to love tentless camping and going to sleep looking at the stars. I was a kid with good vision and no big fear of bugs falling on me.

Lately, the idea of camping has regained its appeal. Go figure. Your trip sounded like so much fun! Too bad you didn't take photos.

Didja do S'mores?

Sherri said...

Sounds like a fun trip...wonder if I can give up hot showers long enough to attempt to camp with the boys?

Jill said...

Maureen - We were soooooooooooo lucky. It POURED on our way to camping, the lightening was AMAZING and it poured on our way home. It quit right after we got there though, so all we had to do was set up the tent in the wet dark!!!!

Ms.Q - It absolutely WOULD NOT BE CAMPING without 10 or more children gathered around a blazing fire waving red hot pokers near the eyeballs of every living creature within stabbing distance!!!! I'm so glad my kids are old enough to make ME a s'more now!!!!!!!!! :-) :-) :-)

Jill said...

Sherri - Hot showers are overrated! (NOT!!!!!!!!!!!! But swimming is almost kind of the same thing as showering...)

People in the Sun said...

That looks like fun, actually. Maybe I was too quick to be afraid of camping. Jumping, swimming, eating, drinking, sleeping, eye injuring--these are all fun activities (although maybe a bit primal. I can see a fun camping trip quickly deteriorating into Lord of the Flies mayhem. That's why I'm always indoors).

And I'm sorry burglars don't read your blog. Maybe you should advertise it in hardware stores?

Janet said...

Gosh, it's beautiful! Glad you had a great time and came back unscathed! jp

Rachael said...

Looks like a fabulous place and fun trip!!

Beth said...

I like the rock/ball game, would be a great birthday party game don't you think? could give each of the kids a hard hat with eye protection as the party gift!

Unknown said...

Looks like you had fun too bad you didn't get any photos. That place looks great.

DJ Kirkby said...

You! Are too funny!!!! hahahahahahahahahahahahahah! Need a little lie down after reading this post....and those pics were good enough to be used twice. Warning, my wordless Wednesday post today carries an 'Over 18's only' warning.

toners said...

What an awesome experience for everyone...and so glad to hear the burglars missed out! LOL!!

FlipFlop Mom said...

OHHHHHHHH it looks like you had a blast!!! I Love camping.. but didn't get that chance this year.. :(

Saradevil said...

My favorite childhood game consisting of rocks was the "rocks in a can on a rope" game. You swung the can full of rocks that was tied to a rope with the other end tied to a high tree branch. That was a great game until I permanently chipped my front tooth when I got distracted in mid throw by the shouts of "somebody stop the baby (age 3) she's driving the car down the mountain."

CircesMagic said...

It is always entertaining reading your posts and this one is no exception, the basketball games sounds interesting enough but I like my cornias...LOL!

Jill said...

People - Oh NO lord of the flies on our trip!!!! Teresa usually has a *spreadsheet* for cryin' out loud! Now if ***I*** were to organize it...

Thanks JP, SJ, Rachael, toners, circesmagic! Flipflop mom, sorry you didn't get the chance. :-( :-(

Beth - Debbie, one of the ones who went camping, one year she had a rollerskating/rollerblading birthday party when Jared & her son were both really little. I was asking her if she was going to give out band aids in the favor bag, 'cause they were just dropping like flies! :-)

Thanks DJ Kirkby & yes, over 18 it is over at your blog this week I see!

Saradevil - that's a way better story than when my son chipped his permanent front tooth on a school toilet...

EquineSpirit said...

Oh man...that makes me wanna go camping!! I haven't been camping in over a decade! Something I need to start working on my "city boy" hubby for maybe next summer! ;) LOL!

Enemy of the Republic said...

Thanks for coming by. I remember you from Ricardo's blog. I was on Music to Grow Old To, but I got so busy that I couldn't blog. I was sorry about that.

Jill said...

Sabrina - Good luck getting him to go!!!!!! I cajoled for years and finally ended up buying a tent in retaliation for a couple major purchases my then-husband made without telling me.

Enemy - yeah I think I see you over on Ricardo's blog a lot! I guess that music one would be hard to keep up with!

Anonymous said...

Those pictures remind me of camping in Upper Michigan. Cool blog! And you must love beer :) as it sounds :)

Just a passer by,

Ken :)

Jill said...

Ken - Thanks! And yeah, beer's YUMMY! :-)

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