Things I Learned at Family Camp

Last weekend we went camping! We went to Camp Casey on Whidbey Island. While there I learned…

1. Double check the hooks beneath the bed you are sleeping on in a tent trailer. Sometimes they come undone when kids discover that fancy new way of getting in and out of the tent trailer. I learned my daughter can fall through the opening at 1 am, and be back to sleep by 1:02. She must have thought it was a weird falling dream, but I know it was not!

2. 18 families + 3 days camping (more for some families) + millions (maybe fewer) of end-of-season crazed yellow jackets = approximately 26 stings. Olivia took one for our family (on her eye lid).

3. Olivia is not allergic to bees.

4. Laughter is the best medicine. We laughed a lot.

5. Camp with these people! I went up a day before my hubby, and melted down hours before he arrived. My friends took my kids and fed them lunch while I went to another friend\’s camper to decompress. I ate pita chips dipped in cream cheese and salmon, cheese cubes and chunks of beef! It was a protein feast! I wept openly and was comforted by a dear friend. She has 3 boys, and sure knows how to comfort an exhausted pregnant mother of 2 preschoolers!

6. It\’s a great time to get to know new people, and learn about the people you \”know\”.

7. I don\’t always \”lose it\” with my kids, and appear patient to some – hahahahahaha!!!!!

8. Joel will take off nearly a quarter mile to the beach by himself to throw rocks in the water – yikes!

9. When good friends find your 5 year old alone at the beach (with wet pants from pee because he couln\’t find a bathroom! – at least it wasn\’t because he\’d gone in!), they bring him back and are so kind to you, eventhough you feel like you deserve to have CPS called on you!

10. Gogurt will almost definitely secure a yellow jacket sting.

11. I like it when my husband camps with us:)

12. Joel will follow a group of older boys to the field (close to the beach mentioned in #7) despite the discipline the day before.

13. Twinkies take an unbelievable amount of time to burn in a campfire. Preservatives… creepy. I still love Twinkies though:)

14. I can\’t wait to go again next year!