the camera is missing

so that means no pictures of this weekend's camping adventures.  so, i have to be wordy to capture it all for posterity.

yes, we took the 9 month old and the 3 year old boys camping.  Michael and I have never been camping together since we've been married, so it seemed like the right thing to do.  And it was grand...if only the weather had cooperated, I might never have wanted to come home.

we started off a little bit rocky as his and my ideas of "camping" were not quite the same.  I am accustomed to the dave guyot masterfully engineered, gourmet style camping trips. whereas, michael is accustomed to what they call "swamp ass" camping.  When he came home from work and saw the mountain of gear, food, and clothes that I had waiting for him, he was in disbelief.  But we have kids and kids have stuff.  lots of stuff. 

we got there just before dark, pulling into our campsite in just enough time to set up ours and the Kuch's tent.  then the boys ran around with glowsticks and homemade german lanterns....to me this was magical.  We got to see what living in the country could be like for our boys.  Playing  in the dirt with acorns, rocks, and sticks as toys.  We did not get one toy out of our bags in 24 hours, and they were never bored.  How refreshing.  (well, I did give ford his toys, because otherwise he was going to eat the dirt and acorns, and that is just gross).

the next morning, michael and matthias learned how to work the camping stove that has been in our closet for years and we were able to make french toast.  We took both family's on a little walk/bike ride where the boys rode their balance bikes on the trails.  I was in absolute amazement at my son on that bike.  If you are not familiar with a balance bike it looks like this (not the same brand, but you get the idea).

Frank all of a sudden has found his balance on the bike, and it has brought tears of joy and fear to my eyes.  All those years of me not being able to ride a bike, and someone who has actually come out of my body, who at first appeared to be as gangly and awkward as me, is going to be able to ride a bike!!!  He won't be an outcast, he won't have to make lame excuses why he can't ride bikes with friends.  I am overjoyed.  So when he wiped out on the first hill, i ran to him and encouraged him to get back on that bike.  Then I closed my eyes on all subsequent hills.  Until that last one.  It was big.  He just took off and went flying down it, not using his brake, legs up in the air, and i yelled at michael, and he flew past michael, and michael yelled at frank and then frank going full speed, turned back to look at michael....and then bit it hard.  i sprinted to him.  he was screaming, but he was fine....I love bike helmets.

It was a beautiful day, until the rain came.  The boys were napping in their tents.  Anke managed to engineer a brilliantly executed tarp with very limited rope over the picnic table while michael and matthias were biking.  then the rain came harder and harder.  we were all soaked.  Including sweet little Ford who was supposed to be safe in his pack n play inside our tent.  we apparantly have some waterproofing issues to work on.  Frank had been sleeping inside our friend's tent that we had set up extra as the "just in case" tent (i.e. just in case it rains, just in case both boys can't sleep in the same tent because they just giggle at each other).  What we had hoped to be our dry place, quickly became a very wet place as it had leakage issues on its own, but then started to collapse during the rain with frank inside.  Perhaps it was the accumulation of water in the awning, or maybe it was that 3 tent stakes had been mysteriously pulled out of the ground prior to nap time?  must have been Bigfoot.  or the 3 year olds.  we'll never know.  but again, frank was fine, he didn't even notice that he was on an invisible island of dry with water all around him.

Anyway, as the waters in the calloway tents rose and rose and the rain was not going anywhere and there was no more rope to tie up anymore tarps, we went to get barbeque at the New Zion Missionary Baptist Church.  I ate a plate of ribs and buttermilk pie.  and they were real good.  Ford loved them, too.   Then when we got back, and it was still raining, we decided to call it a trip and packed up in the rain.

now our gear is drying thanks to michael's quick work, and the clothes are washed and I am ready to get out there again....after we make sure our tent is waterproofed.

who wants to go with us?