We went camping last Friday night. It has been a LONG time. Ever since the disaster at Johnson’s Shut-Ins back in 2005 (ya, it has been that long!), there just hasn’t been much incentive to camp. Missouri camping in the summer is miserable unless one is near a source of water for swimming. Camping in the spring is usually rainy. Camping in the fall is wonderful but Renaissance Festivals and corn mazes seem to take precedence. We made an attempt to summer camp at Merrimac State Park a few years ago with some of the kids and it was HORRIBLE. We were rained on all night and, in the morning, were forced to evacuate the campground because the Merrimac was going to flood its banks. SO, our camping equipment has sat dormant in our garage for several years…..until last weekend. We had reservations at Babler State Park and a date with Noah and Joe. Babler is just west of Chesterfield – only 45 minutes from Joe and Emily’s place – but, except for occasional jet liners flying overhead, one would never know the city was so close. It was beautiful and the weather was perfect and our campsite was great – close to the water spigot and……………..the PORTA-POTTY! Newly potty-trained Noah fell in love with porta-potties. Couldn’t stop talking about them. And, in the brief 15 hours of camping, he used it at least six times. He loved to look down in the porta-potty (ewwww). He wanted all of us to use the porta potty. In fact, we had taken a walk down to the campground headquarters in search of a flush toilet but, for some reason, they were not functioning so there were porta-potties even there. Steve and I visited the facility and were starting to walk away when Noah held his arms out and said “GUYS, we HAVE to go to the porta-potties for our health!” (referring to Joe who had refrained from going). Well, back we walked so daddy could use the porta-potty. What a kid! Noah pretty much loved everything about camping – the tent, the campfire, the acorns, the marshmallows, the hotdogs (which he didn’t eat). We sat around the fire after supper and told stories: I told Goldilocks and the Three Bears, Steve told the Three Billygoats Gruff, Joe told about the Seven Sisters and the Bear constellations , and Noah told the story of Tony Stark and how he became Iron Man and how he met Thor and invited him to be an Avenger. We used Joe and Emily’s awesome tent and retired fairly early since we were full of s’mores and storied out. Noah settled down surprisingly well considering how keyed up he was. Steve and I brought some comfy sleeping pads for under our sleeping bags so the night was not too uncomfortable. A good night’s sleep, however, was not to be. Steve had a low blood sugar at about 11:30 and went to the car (where the food was being stowed) for something to eat. Only, his car key is kind of tricky and he inadvertently set of the car alarm. Fortunately, Noah slept through the flashing lights and piercing weewaw wee waw. Not Joe and me. Then, at about 3:00, a very LOUD owl set up shop right outside our tent and woke everyone up. At 4:30, I got a text message from Emily and my, the text message chime is loud in a quiet tent. And, for most of the night, the next-door camp site, with a bunch of college-age boys, buzzed with low-level chatter. I don’t think they settled down until about 3:30! Emily and Lucy visited Friday evening for a bit before returning home for Lucy to sleep in her own crib. They rejoined us Saturday morning but not in time for breakfast of pie-iron pancakes - mmmmm, good (although most were a bit overdone on the outside and somewhat underdone on the inside but, hey, when you are camping, everything tastes delicious.) After eating, Noah and I took a little walk and found the perfect campsite for when we come back next fall. It is at the end of the road so it is a bit more secluded and it has an awesome hollowed out tree stump to play around. We pulled up camp in the late morning and headed back to Emily and Joe’s home so Lucy could get her nap. Steve and I are definitely out of camping- practice: I forgot a pancake-cooking pan and our “overnight camp” bucket was somewhat depleted of supplies so we had to improvise a bit (tin-foil on the picnic bench served as plates). But, Steve can still build an awesome fire. And, I did remember the lantern. Our campout was short but memorable. We are going to do this again.
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