Camping

This weekend was our much anticipated camping weekend! We borrowed a tent, bought a camp stove, and planned all of our meals. One thing we didn't anticipate: RAIN! Looking back, I can't believe that I didn't think to bring rain gear. I had s'more ingredients, tooth brushes, and an air mattress, but umbrella?...no! I'm definitely a camping rookie! 

Planning: FAIL

We got to our muggy campsite by the St. Croix River and pitched the tent and relaxed. ButterBean thought he was extremely cool sitting in his own chair and sipping his water. He got a little too confident and face-planted off of his chair on to the gravel, resulting in a scraped nose and lip. So, within 15 minutes, he had already become filthy and scraped up! He was loving it though! 

Child safety: FAIL

Later in the evening our friends arrived with their 18 month son. We spent significant amount of time trying to get a fire started with wood and newspaper, which resulted in smoke, smoke, lots of smoke. We got charcoal...smoke. Lighter fluid...smoke. Finally we got a little fire going, which got stronger by 10pm, just in time for s'mores!

Fire making: almost FAIL

Under a beautiful starry sky, we all went happily to sleep. At about 1 or 2 am I heard thunder and rain and saw crazy lightning through the tent.  "That's ok" I thought, "I love sleeping during storms!"Then at about 3:30 I woke up again to the air mattress jiggling and my husband shifting around in the tent. "The rain is coming in!" he said. We had left the fly of the tent open to get a breeze. The floor of our tent was covered in water (thank God for the air mattress!) and somehow I had slept through half of my pillow getting drenched! I went out of the tent door to close part of the outer fly resulting in more drenching. The rain, thunder, wind, and lightening continued. At one point our tent started caving in on my side. "It's caving!!!", I screamed! For those who don't know this: I HATE being wet in the rain! The whole situation was so comical though that we couldn't stop laughing!! Gatsby and I met in a torrential rain, so it brought us back to 2003 when we were sitting in a mud puddle in Toronto waiting to see Pope John Paul II.

As I was lying there I was tallying the things I had left outside: paper towels, paper plates, dishes, newspaper, OUR SHOES, chairs....yep, we were going to be wet for a looong time!

Water-proofing: FAIL

We stayed in our tent until ButterBean woke up at 7:30. It was still raining and ButterBean was not going to be cooped up in a tent for much longer. We drove into Stillwater and found a breakfast place where we warmed up with pancakes and hot chocolate. We looked crazy: ButterBean was barefoot, our hair was everywhere, and we were half soaked. I contemplated buying a sweatshirt (yet another thing I forgot to bring). The rain let up at 10 am, however, at this point we made a collaborative decision: abandon the camp site and move the party to our house. So, we went back and started packing up our sad, soggy mess. 

Camping: FAIL

We showered, dried off, washed out our tent and set it up to dry, grilled our kabobs, and camped out in our living room. We played games, laughed, and feasted on banana boats (see below). The boys played together the next morning while we munched on our breakfasts and lounged.

Living Room Camping: NAILED IT!

Fun Memories: NAILED IT!

CAN'T WAIT TO TRY IT AGAIN!

Banana Boats:

Cut a center strip out of the curve of a banana. Wrap the base in tin foil so it can stand on its own. Fill the center strip with peanut butter and chocolate chips. Bake at 350 degrees until melty. Then top with marshmallows and broil in the oven until browned.