Camping (I may need therapy)

1.

OK, so I shared that we began the month at a great family reunion.  I did not, however, share that we decided that we would reenter the world of camping at that reunion.  We have not been camping since we became foster parents.  I am reminded of a quote my brother once showed me about how to camp with toddlers:  DON'T!  I was, quite frankly, too traumatized from this camping experience to share this before now.  I will try deep breathing exercises to get me through this story because it needs to be told.  Anyone out there who still thinks that camping with toddlers just might be fun needs this story.  I will give the short version.

Night 1:  barely arrived in time to set up the camp and roast hot dogs before it got dark.  Flashlights were somehow not on our packing list.  A train was heard loud and clear blowing its whistle many times through the night.  Wee One couldn't sleep.  Moving to the van with him did not help.  Literally hours of screaming later finally wore him out.  Van seats do not make comfortable beds, says I.  The hard ground does not make a comfortable bed, either, says Jon.  We woke up very tired and grumpy.

Night 2:  A severe rain and wind storm turned our Easy Up into a pretzel.  Everything in our tent was wet and muddy.  There was no way that we were going to brave the storm in the tent when camping didn't even go well when we weren't being blown and flooded out.  Our tent collapsed on Jon.  Jon and Brishen broke down camp in the most horrible conditions.  They threw item after item into the back of the van where Basia grabbed them and threw them farther up front.  Everything was soaked, muddy, and a big, ugly mess (especially Jon and Brishen).  We called every single hotel in town, and there was absolutely no vacancy.  We got to experience the joy of being so far out in the boonies.  We had to drive 2.5 hours late at night (when we had not slept the night before) in order to get to a hotel room.  The kids were all asleep by the time we got to the hotel and mercifully stayed asleep as we carried them inside.  Even Wee One slept through the night.  It was lovely.  We may be having a garage sale with all of our camping gear sometime soon.  DO NOT CAMP WITH TODDLERS--especially 5 of them when there is a freak storm in the forecast.