Apparently We Can be Happy Campers

Originally published on DC Metro Moms, 6/5/10:

 There's something to be said for discovering that you can stretch beyond your comfort zone, in any aspect of life.  In this instance, I'm referring to the very literal, sleep-in-a-real-bed and live-under-a-real-roof comfort zone.  A couple of weeks ago, my husband and I packed the minivan to its gills, including miraculously squeezing the kids into their respective car seats in the midst of all the stuff, and we ventured off to Cunningham Falls State Park in Thurmont, MD, with the plan to add  the item "Go Camping" to our official list of Family Firsts.  (We're not terribly adventurous, so the list features such accomplishments as "Attend an Entire Minor League Baseball Game without Losing Our Minds" and "Survive a Fourth of July in Washington, D.C.")

We opted to ease into the camping experience by going with friends who are significantly more seasoned campers, as well as booking a site that had electrical hook-ups, a nearby water spigot, and was just one short path away from the bathhouse.  Even considering those "amenities," I still felt like a pioneer woman just for the sheer fact that not only would I be offline for more than 48 hours, but I would be going to sleep for two nights with only a large piece of nylon separating me from the surrounding world of nature.  (Including whatever critter rustled the bushes each and every time I walked a child up to the bathhouse.  Memo to wild animal: I understood the deal the first time- you were there, and I didn't need the subsequent reminders/freak outs.)  Okay, perhaps the likening of us to frontier explorers is a bit of a stretch, what with our perimeter of hanging Christmas lights and trio of air mattresses, but I did walk away from the weekend with a few lessons learned.

• Nature is pretty damn cool.  Technically, this wasn't newly acquired knowledge, but it was definitely reinforced after two and a half days of being surrounded by insane amounts of millipedes and stinkbugs, incredibly prolific serenading songbirds, unbelievably cute chipmunks, and mystery creatures who can shake a bush like nobody's business.  Best of all is the reminder of my children's innate curiosity and interest in things that are dirty or untamed, i.e. nature.

• It's much easier to tolerate my kids' booming voices when we're outdoors.  You think your kids are loud?  We should hang out sometime and compare notes (or decibel levels).  But when there are no walls to hold in all that noise, I'm less likely to burst a blood vessel in my face shushing them.  Downside: the combination of established quiet hours and children who are simply too hyped up about sleeping in the same tent with each other to stop making noise, or just a dreaded few hours later when the aforementioned happy birds wake the noisy kids at 5:00 am, which is still two stinking hours before the conclusion of said quiet hours. 

• I could technically survive on nothing but hot dogs and s'mores.  And I would be shamelessly satisfied.  Enough said.

• As much as we'd like it to be otherwise, we still rely on technology.  We knew the forecast was calling for rain, but we didn't necessarily expect a deluge.  But when it's early evening, dinner is slowly being cooked on a camp stove under an umbrella, and there are five kids who are hungry, antsy and have nowhere to go due to the sudden onset of monsoon season, we're not too proud to plug in the laptop.  Five kids + blanket + waterproof tent + DVD = Four parents not pushed to pulling out their hair in frustration.  Call us weak, that's fine.

• Perhaps the "privacy flap" in the tent is more useful than we thought.  Don't go getting any wild and crazy thoughts-- we didn't need any privacy, but maybe if we had put the flap down it would have given the children the perception that we were sleeping in our own "room," and they would have stopped talking to us that first night.  Or maybe it has magical soundproofing abilities that we just weren't aware of.  A girl can dream, right?

• Even with an abundance of entomology subjects, unbelievable downpours, disruptive children in the late night and early morning hours, a diet consisting of nothing but indescribable animal parts and high fructose corn syrup, and a severe sleep deficit, I can confidently say that I enjoyed camping.  Well, I enjoyed our version of camping.  Let's see how it goes when our next adventure comes in August.  On a beach.  With zero electrical outlets. 

This is an original DC Metro Moms post. 

Dawn occasionally attempts the Twitter thing, frequently blogs nonsense about her family at my thoughts exactly, and tries to sound intelligent when she reviews books at 5 Minutes for Books.