Just in case we have not been busy enough with activities and traveling, I took the boys camping this past weekend in Speculator, NY at Moffit Beach. We had a blast! It was not just the kids and I; we had our fife and drum corp members as well, since we did a parade there Saturday night. This was the first time officially camping in an actual campground with a toddler and preschooler, and there were some funny, yet challenging, lessons learned.
First off, do not count on your children to be aware of cold water. Pierce is a water rat, and he loves to go swimming, as long as he has his life jacket. However, Pierce has no body fat. This means, that while I am still becoming acclimated to the refreshing water, he is already shivering. Despite said shivering, he refused to come out of the water. No matter what. This resulted in some whining when he was told he was all done swimming. Carter, on the other hand, did not like the water the first day, but loved it the second. Go figure.
Mosquitoes can be terrifying to your preschooler. I never would have thought they would be, since we have been busy this week catching fire flies, crayfish, toads, and whatever insect comes our way. But alas, there were many tears over the mosquitoes, and I even caught my child putting on his own bug spray "for extra protection." I nearly had to wrestle Carter to get the bug spray on him. But I will agree with Pierce, the mosquitoes were really bad this year.
Watching the fireworks launch across the lake was one of the highlights of the trip for both boys. They were amazed by the colors, and Carter told me it sounds like a musket. However, Pierce developed a new firework term for me this year. Apparently, there are fireworks that are called Poopy fireworks. These newly invented fireworks are ones that you can see, but not hear. Imagine the surprise of some of the people around us when he was yelling about Poopy fireworks. Oops!
Lastly, do not be surprised at how well the shriek of discovering there is no chocolate milk in the tent at 2:30 AM, echoes off the trees. In all fairness, Carter was woken up by another child a few campsites down running around and screaming, instead of sleeping. However, my child does not wake up gracefully. He wakes up rather harshly. And if he realizes it is still dark, he wants a sippy cup and he wants back to bed. No problem...except for some unknown reason, he wanted chocolate milk this time, and not the usual water. This Momma was digging around her tent looking for the boxes of Yoo Hoo that were packed, and in the process woke up the other child accidentally. So I had two unhappy children, and heard plenty of discussion the following morning about what child was screaming and heard through the campground. Oh well. It was a family campground, and like I have said before, I cannot fault my children for being children. I can grumble under my breath for the parents that allowed their children to play at 2:30 in the morning and wake mine up.
All in all, despite a total of 3 meltdowns in a 3 day period, we had a blast. Pierce has already told me that when he wakes up later, we need to pack the car and get ready to go again. I think not today, but hopefully in a few weeks. In the meantime while their daddy is taking them to the splash pad, I am going to relax with a book and enjoy some quiet. Good bye everyone!
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