Camping

We went camping last weekend in Wisconsin. What a fun thing to do as a family. We arrived late Monday and left Friday morning. We stayed in "our" new trailer, actually borrowed from in laws but it's new to us. I was glad to have the trailer because we were completely alone in the 100+ spot campground for the first three nights, and I wanted to lock myself up tight. The nearest "help" was over a mile away, in the resort area of the grounds. Yikes, but soooooo nice and peaceful and quiet.

Our spot was across from the playground so the kids could cross the road and play whenever they wished. Once more people started rolling in on Thursday, we made sure they stayed close and didn't wander off without telling us. The first thing we did after setting up out trailer was take a walk through the prairie. The prairie is HUGE and full of native grasses and flowers and had mowed trails that wound through the prairie and into the woods. So beautiful and quiet. That first night we saw baby fox and a ton of deer. After our walk we microwaved some hot dogs (too hungry to wait for the fire) put the kids to bed, and then sat out under the stars. Ahhh.

The next morning Emily discovered caterpillars and spent the morning catching as many as she could. She would stalk across the sites looking for them and each "find" was a treasure. She even got Maicy in on the action.

After catching caterpillars we went for another prairie walk and then Emily and I rode our and I woke up and rode our bikes to the lapidary in the main resort area. Lapidary is a very fancy word for "bead shop". There we made two bead bracelets and Emily created a pair of earrings. Very fun and she stayed focused the whole time. She loved the elderly volunteers that wandered in and fawned over her creations. After the lapidary it was time for a long nap for the kids and a workout session at the gym for Mommy. Ahhhhh. That night we took another long walk in the prairie, but this time we brought the dog. BAD IDEA. He pooped out near the end and would NOT move. I had to run back to the site to get the truck and Jeff had to hog carry him about 1/4 mile back to the truck. We threw him in the back and he did not budge until the next morning . I was afraid to go get him, but there he was, refreshed and alive.

Another late bedtime for the kids, and we woke up the next morning with the same "nothing to do" on our agenda. We lazed around the site until lunch time and then drove to the main resort to have ice cream at the little internet cafe. Jeff did some work and the kids and I hung out around the fish pond. We even took an exciting (serious sarcasm) trip to a small flourescent rock collection. TACKY but Emily liked it for about 5 seconds. That evening we attempted to climb the 120 step STRAIGHT UP tower, but Emily chickened out. Thankfully, because I was getting really claustrophobic. We attempted an outdoor challenge/obstacle course, but all failed at that as well.

The campground country store was about 1/2 mile down the dirt road from our site, so Emily rode her bike down there several times with a fist full of change. All the penny candy she could want, and a slush puppy to end the day.

Thursday was more of the same. Prairie walks, caterpillar catching, and trips to the country store. After lunch we wandered over to the Ceramics shop, which was closed, but found that Emily could do "china painting". Which really was just applying pretty decals to a cup and saucer and firing it overnight in the kiln. But it was fun for her, and now we have a nice china memory of the trip. That afteroon, we went down to the lake to swim at the beach. Most of the lake is drop off, so Ithink the beach was an afterthought. And it was REALLY seaweedy. BLECH. Not that the kids minded!

After swimming it was time to head back to a campground FULL of campers. They were everywhere ! Campers, tents, trailers, 32foot bus motorhomes, church groups, everything you can think of. Down the road a bit was some friends of ours that had just pulled in, so we took their 4 kids plus our two kids for an extremely long prairie/woods walk. One little boy tried to call in some turkeys (??????), we looked for deer, found a secret, hidden, silent trail that went up along the power lines. Along the trail was a pine cross tied together with rich purple fabric scraps. Eerily beautiful. We made our way back to the prairie, scared some deer, and returned 4 tired kids to their parents. They were still setting up, so we went back to our site, the kids played soccer and ball, and Jeff and I played frisbee. Barefoot, I might add, which did NOT please our fellow camper friend, since he was the PT that brought my ankle back to health after the surgery.

We returned the kids back to their site again, Emily chose to eat a 2nd dinner over there, and then we all had dessert. My family made their way back to the trailer, the kids went to bed, and Jeff and I sat up over a fire and played UNO amidst the noise of ALL the campers. We really missed being alone as we had been the past few nights. Then we turned into seriously big sissies and crawled into our locked trailer, turned on the A/C, and took showers. Remember the days when we'd tent camp in AZ in the middle of nowhere? And port-a-pots and running water was a luxury?

Friday morning was wake up, take a prairie walk, ride to the general store for more penny candy, and then pack up and head home. And it's been non-stop ever since!! But a great time was had by all, and we're already wanting to return.