2015 Fourth of July weekend
Thursday
Much to my chagrin the Xterra isn't street legal this year, so we had to rent a car (sigh) Thankfully there was a tiny rack on top so I could tie on the IKs I borrowed from Delton. After a bit of an epic tie down 5 of us piled into the equinox and headed into traffic. Well, bank, TacoBell, traffic, Target, traffic, liquor store, camp! Granted, it was 730pm and we were exhausted when we arrived, but we were thrilled! We hugged Tenda and Elliot, unpacked the car, set up a couple of tents, had a grown up drink and commenced to frolicking! At some point we convinced the small people to go to sleep, we followed shortly after. It was a lovely evening, foggy, not to cold and then, in the middle of a drought, I heard rain drops! At first I thought I was imagining things, we are in a drought and it is July, rain wouldn't happen, would it? A few minutes later I figured I should investigate, since I hadn't put the rain fly on the condo tent. Umm, yup, rain drops, and there was no way of knowing if this was a little sprinkle or a deluge about to unfold, so I grabbed the rain fly, woke up Joamia and we quickly threw it on the tent. Good thing too, because when it came, it came, it rained for over an hour; I was grateful for the rain but worried about hypothermia and where on earth we would go to get rain gear if it kept raining... I finally fell asleep around 1am and woke to bone dry ground, if the tents weren't wet I might have thought I hallucinated the whole thing. The earth was so dry it took the meager offering and just gobbled it up.
Friday
Small people and I were up early, we went for a stroll around the campground, played a few games at the arcade, fed the ducks, played with kids, then went back to see if the grown ups were awake. Yup, awake and caffienating! We spent the day at the beach, our camp site had some pretty spectacular beach access, swimming, floating, playing in the IKs and experimenting with stand up paddle boards. Ezra saw a guy on a SUP and was fascinated, the IK held absolutely no appeal once he got on one. The day was spent in the sun, water, sun, water, repeat! The girls took the IKs out for a wander, one got stuck on a sand bar, I watched her struggle to inch closer and closer to current, but not make it, so I hiked down there, walked across the river (at best it got ankle deep and slippery) then pushed her out of the channel she was stuck in and off to some current, then walked back. I was very happy I had recently cleaned my shoes of sand or that would have been an uncomfortable walk. Totally felt like amazon woman, rafting, water loving Amazon woman at that point! We made a quick trip into Guernville to pick up some groceries and entertain the notion of a fireworks show but the kids were knocked out by the ride so we went back to camp for some dinner. We argued with the fire for over an hour, it started then fizzled, repeated, fizzled, smoked, whatever!! There was enough heat for Tenda's charred cow, which was a bonus for her.
Zaire decided he wanted to sleep with Ezra in his tent, I got them all snuggled in and went to the loo. As I left camp a guy said "Good evening, I've seen you walking around with a lot of different people, you seem to be in charge" Nice, good to be recognized! When I got back from the bathroom Zaire was standing outside the tent, distraught and sobbing. I hugged him, he was cold, tired and terrified, poor little bug. Elliot had told Ezra a ghost story the night before, they all talked about it all day, and Zaire got scared about it as he was drifting off to sleep. So, back in the tent with mommy for snuggles, talk, and sleep.
Saturday
Woke up a later than I expected (530) laid in bed for a while longer then went for a stroll and grumbled about forgetting a book of some sort. Zaire woke up at 630 desperate to make a fire, I had to do a lot of convincing that "Smoking Tenda and Hilda out of their tent" so early would not be a good idea. After some convincing he was made happy with some hot chocolate and then a wander around camp with Michela, Taco and I.
The theme for the rest of the day was "Gear Tending" Ezra has dirty underwear, tshirts, socks, etc, just strewn all over camp; he's been using Preston's old PFD in the water, when he takes it off he just tosses it where ever he his and then runs back in the water or all over the beach; his shoes have found themselves in all sorts of places that don't makes sense, the other day he had 2 pair of shoes, at two different ends of the beach. Just no sense of anything outside of his immediate need to have fun. He has blown the emergency whistle on the PFD twice, the first time was understandable, he was on the IK and a little stuck and out of view, but today it was while swimming to say he was stuck and couldn't move (he was tired but he actually said "Buddy, I'm drowning") He was on a SUP again, I was in the IK with Michela and Zaire, we bumped him, he dramatically threw himself into the IK, let go of the paddle he had, which, surprisingly, sank to the bottom of the river because Ezra didn't move off the IK to fetch the paddle when "I'm stuck" he then when he was in the water he barely moved to swim and pull the SUP back to shore. That, and the quickly rising tide, marked the end of our day at the beach. Time for some scolding about responsibility and gear tending then the camp ice cream social. There was talk of the hay ride, but the line was too long, so back to the camp for an improvised dinner, a fire to be proud of, s'mores, and the bonfire... Zaire decided to try sleeping with Ezra again, he was exhausted and was out soon after his head hit the pillow.
Sunday
Woke up to fog, think, wet, fog. I sat and watched the water collect on the tents, the chairs, camp, me. Again, water, but nothing to make a dent in this parched Earth. Zaire poked his head out of the tent, saw me, smiled and said "I knew you were up mommy!" he joined me on the chairs for hot chocolate then big Ezra woke up, made hot chocolate, pulled a chair over and joined us. Sweet morning with my boys. We had a slow morning, a walk to the store for muffins, arcade time, feeding the ducks and horses, and an unexpected scavenger hunt for the kids. We talked of going to Jenner, but none of the kids really wanted to spend any more time in the water today, so we decided on mini-golf in Monte Rio and strolling in Guernville. Mellow, nice last day. The kids fell asleep on the way back to camp, Zaire has been asleep since. Ezra built a fire to brag about, we nibbled, talked, there was soccer and football, some food, and a rearranging of sleeping positions. Zaire and I will sleep in the car (because he is still asleep and I don't want to wake him just to move him), Elliot will be in the big tent with Michela and Joamia, Ezra will have a tent to himself...
Monday
After 13 hours of sleep, Zaire woke up hungry and refreshed, ready to play! We wandered about, brushed our teeth, talked about the packing plan, played at the play ground and waited for everyone to wake up. At some point I handed Ezra 20 bucks, sent he and the little ones off to the store for "breakfast" and more time at the park so we could pack camp and load the cars. The kids had snacks, park time, beach time, then car time. My goal was 10am, we left at 11, not too bad. I had to give Elliot a bit of a "gear tending" lecture too, unfortunately Ezra was frolicking on the beach so he missed it. We all had breakfast together at Cape Fear, did a little shopping in Duncans Mill then hit the road. Farewell Casini, until we meet again!
Flickr Album: https://flic.kr/s/aHskf83mM7
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