Well, we finally managed to go camping this year and when I say camping, I mean tent camping with air mattresses, camp chairs, toys, portable awning, more toys, an extra picnic table, a 45 year old Coleman stove and a portable potty chair for the boys. (Malina was very impressed with how well organized we were, even with the rain.)  And yes, for the first time ever, it rained on us and we were camping in Eastern Washington, an area known for warmer/drier weather.  Nothing like a little rain to speed the set up of your camp site and then the take down of your camp site.  Camping proved once again that Nicholas is not afraid of getting completely dirty, while Dexter remains relatively clean.  Also new this year was the fact that Joel and I were both sick with colds, so the boys compensated by wanting to ride their bikes super fast everywhere, which caused Joel and I to run.  I don’t run.  I did this last weekend.

OK, I’m getting ahead of myself and I need to tie this story with the title of the blog.  As you all know, I am the one who wants to take the boys tent camping.  Joel, like Dexter, is not a big dirt person.  Well, I really didn’t think it would happen this year.  Most of the people we usually camp with had other things to do this summer.  But then our friend Dawnn, Nicholas’s godmother, asked if we were going camping this year.  She had two free weekends and wanted to use one of them up.  I lit up – oh yeah, we can go camping.  I called around and found out that my friend Monica, Dexter’s godmother, was also free that weekend.  Our camping trip had just been born.  What was really cool was that Monica & Mike’s kids, Ben, Kate, & Abby were roughly the same age as Dawnn & Jim’s girls, Katie and Ashlyn.  Nic and Dex would be the youngest, but that was ok, because they are now at the age where they can interact and play with the older kids, which they did and thus, I GOT TO SOCIALIZE WITH ADULTS!  How awesome was that?

We had also booked a day out with Thomas the Tank Engine before booking the camping trip, so that was a fun, little side trip in which Sir Toppen Hat did not show up like he was suppose to, but the boys loved seeing Thomas and riding on Annie/Clarabell.  It rained the whole time.

So, most notable experiences from our trip were:

1) adopting a boy (Hunter) from a neighboring campsite.  He was 5 yrs old and camping with his Dad/Grandpa.  They hadn’t thought to bring any toys but we did so Hunter was a regular visitor to our site.

2) riding bikes.  The boys got glider bikes for their birthday from Grandma Crick and Grandpa Don.  This campground had hills.  Dexter loves speed.  The boys picked up their feet more and more on the downhill slopes and hit the speed bumps with force.  I uttered shrieks, and jumped up in the air on multiple occasions.  I think I had probably 20 heart attacks before the weekend was over.  Finally, I let Ben and Ashlyn take charge of the boys and let the kids shepherd the boys on their bikes.  Oh, giving up control almost killed me too but the older kids did a fantastic job of watching out for Nicholas and Dexter.  Perhaps I should mention that, with the rain, the boys couldn’t really stop.

3) continuing on with the potty training at the camp site and then figuring out where to dump the peep.   The back of our van became our Port-a-John.

4) watching Nicholas devour S’mores and get marshmellow all over while Dexter ate his S’more separately – no cooked marshmellow, chocolate next and then the graham cracker last.

5) watching a friendly game of soccer between the old people – Mike and Malina (she wasn’t sure how to take being lumped in with the old people) vs. Katie and Ben.

6) SOCIALIZING WITH ADULTS

It was a great trip – rain and all.  Our garage still smells like a campfire as we finish up drying up the tents and rain awning.  Joel and I are slowing recovering from our colds.

A big shout of thanks to the Cheng family and the Hollenbergs for making this a really fun trip.  Same time next year?

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