Over the years we have had many different children live with us and a few of them are hard to forget! Many of our summers have been spent with me packing up the kids and the gear and heading out solo with them! On one camping trip we decided to travel with another mom and her kids. As we were heading out with car top carriers and vehicles loaded to the nuts, my friends' car top carrier blew open as we were driving on the highway heading to Bird's Hill Park. We pulled over and two of the older kids decided they were going to chase the items that blew out! Nothing like seeing two teenagers run through traffic driving 100 km/h on the highway! Well they managed to save the day! They collected the items and off we went again! Once we got out to the campground, found our site and were starting to set up tents (great idea solo with 5 kids and a few of their friends!). Of course there is always one child who just needs to be a pain and this trip was no different! We are trying to set up tents and he has to pee! I can see the bathrooms from our site but don't trust him enough to go solo and everybody is tired of his shenanigans during the ride out so nobody wanted to take him. I finally lost my patience and told him that he was a boy "just go pee in the bush!" and off he went. When I turned around there he was sitting in the biggest plot of poison ivy I have ever seen! All he could say is, "You always tell me to pee sitting down!" Well luckily for him he didn't get poison ivy and learned that he could pee standing up when he's outdoors!
On another camping trip with this child we were at Lilac Resort with water slides, hot tub, playground etc. It was a hot day and the pool area was packed. All the kids wanted to go to different pool areas so I sent the older ones to one pool, the middle ones to the one pool that I could keep my eye on and our little trouble maker to the hot tub. The hot tub was packed!!! I told him he could go and I would watch him. In he went, shortly after out everyone came! As one lady walked by I overheard her say, "Can you believe that! What child openly admits that he peed in the hot tub!" I was mortified! There was my little guy with a huge grin on his face, all alone in the hot tub!! He was a handful but there was never a dull moment with him around!
Another favorite camping place is Clear Lake. A few years ago our children read the signs on the beach that told about Duck Lice. That was it! The kids decided that they were never going to swim at the beach again! In the following years we rented a cabin to stay at with a pool so they could go swimming. As the lady said when I phoned, "The cabins are rustic" and I replied, "It's better than sleeping on the ground". As we pulled up to the cottage we noticed that there was a plywood walkway over a "moat" of water to get into the cabin. Mud everywhere else! Apparently the water main in front of the cabin had broken earlier, the owners apologized for the inconvenience and hoped that it would be fixed in the next day or two! Oh well, our adventure began! In the cabin all of the bedding was pristine white (not so cool for a "family friendly" place) and in our welcome package a note that if they were to become excessively dirty there would be an extra charge for cleaning. I knew that we would be paying the extra cleaning charge, no doubt. The next few days were uneventful (as uneventful they could be with our crew!). On the fourth day I was dismayed when it was bedtime and I went to put her to bed but couldn't open the door! It was locked!! I figured I would just get a butter knife and unlock it, no biggie. WRONG! The lock was so "rustic" that there was no way to unlock it from the hallway. I sent one of the older kids to the office to see if we could get someone to help but there was a note saying to call .... if anything was needed. We called the number and left a message. An hour later we still hadn't heard from anyone, I called again and left another message. By this time the little one was in complete meltdown mode! I'm sure the entire town could hear her screaming! I sent our 12 year old outside to see if he could get in through the window which of course entailed standing in the mud! He came back in and said he could probably fit but he the window was too high for him to get to. I went out stood in the mud and tried to "boost" him up! By this time I could see people in the neighboring cabins looking out there windows at us wondering what was going on! We finally decided to get the brand new, light colored picnic table and drag it over to the window so he could stand on it to get through the window. As he was half in and half out of the window he realized that it was a long way to the floor! I told him to do whatever he needed to do, let's just get this over and done with! Not even thinking about the wonderful combination of nice, white linens and shoes that had just been in the mud! So in he goes, walks across the bed to the door and quickly unlocks it. My hero! Out of the bedroom I hear, "Ummm mom". As I walked into the room all I could see clear as a bell was four muddy footprints across the not so pristine bedding! Ooops! Peace soon fell as the exhausted screaming toddler went to bed which made it all worth it! Upon check out the owners asked us how our stay was and if there was anything they could improve for next time. I suggested updating the doorknobs and explained our little adventure. As they laughingly apologized, I explained that it is hard to take my crew anywhere solo without some sort of "disaster" happening and in the end we all had fun! When they asked if we would be back next year, I said absolutely as long as there were new door knobs! Guess what! The following year there was new knobs!
As I sit and dream of summer (everyone keeps saying it's coming!) I can't help but get sentimental about the good 'ol days knowing that as my children get older there won't be as many "family trips". What will I ever do?!
.jpg)
