Camping Trip 2012- 1 and Goodbye Tent

The Mack family loves to camp.  Especially me.  I could honestly and literally live out of a tent for the entire summer season.  As soon as it starts to get warm outside I start thinking of potential places to pitch the tent.  And yes, I said tent.  We started out as tent campers forever ago with the intention of eventually upgrading to popup camper, then RV.  We never made it further than the tent.  I absolutely love laying in a tent after a hot shower at the bathhouse, listening to the sounds of nature around me while silently praying it won't rain like nobodies business overnight, and if does, PLEASE... NOBODY TOUCH THE TENT!!. 

I was really itching to go camping early this year, but at the same time the thought kept creeping through my head that it was time to start upgrade mode.  Fun fact:  My bladder isn't as strong as it used to be three kids ago, and I must pee at least once, sometimes twice in the middle of the night.  I don't totally mind walking to the bathrooms in the pitch blackness, but at the same time we were thinking it might be time to finally ditch the tent (sob) and buy a popup so I wouldn't have to do that.   That's another post, but I mention it now because this camping trip is our last official tent trip.  And that made me a little bit sad the entire weekend.

We didn't go far this weekend because the boys had their final soccer games of the season on Saturday morning and we needed to drive back.   So where do you go when you want lots of camp activities and a super clean campsite?

Jellystone!!!  

I'm a huge fan of Jellystone campgrounds for several reasons.  One, they are always very clean.  Two, they have three or four kids activities scheduled during each day to keep the kids busy.   During this trip, the kids both got to tie dye a t-shirt.   They loved it.  

And here is Jack's shirt.  Jack is obsessed with the color green.  He wanted green, and only green on his shirt.  So we just dipped the entire shirt into the green dye bucket.  He was thrilled.  

They also had an ice cream social.  They got to make their own sundaes and keep the cup.  Everybody needs a Yogi Bear cup, it's true.  You can tell how much swimming they have done by their eyes!  I don't even think either of them could see at this point.

We made so many S'mores it was shameful.  My favorite was chocolate graham crackers with Milky Way Caramel bars and the new honker campfire marshmallows.   I die.  So good.  Justice and Joe love Reeses PB Cups in theirs, and Jack likes his the traditional way.

Jack had a serious situation on his hands, it was hilarious.  He got marshmallow all over his belly, tried to wipe it off with his hands, got it all over his hands, then wiped his hands on the ground in the grass to try and get it off his hands.  He was absolutely covered in marshmallows and grass.

We also roasted a ridiculous amount of marshmallows.  See the honker marshmallow.  Yes, they are huge and awesome.

And Jack roasted his own hotdogs.

The boys swam nearly the entire time we were there, and loved it.  The pool was great, and they had a giant waterside.  Jack normally wakes up in the morning in between 8:30 and 9:30.  He's a very late sleeper.  Saturday he had a soccer game at 9:00, so we had to leave the campsite by 7:30 to get there on time.  He played his soccer game in the 90 degree heat after getting up far earlier than normal, then swam and played on the waterslide at least six straight hours.  This was Jack right before dinner.  Exhausted.  He floated around the pool on his back for about an hour before Joe scooped him out to take him to shower.  It was funny watching him, nearly asleep floating around the pool.  He still threw a fit when he had to get out though.  

And this is what Jack looked like after he got out of the pool.  Too tired to do anything but lay in the pea gravel.

And Justice was so tired (he had a soccer game, too) that this is what he looked like when he fell asleep at only 8:00.  I literally had to check to make sure he was still breathing.  He was sleeping harder than I've ever seen him sleep.  Of course Jack caught his second wind the second he laid down to sleep.

We love tent camping because it takes us away from everything except each other.  No TV, no video games, and no outside drama of any kind.  Just us and the kids, enjoying peace and quiet.  Fun Mack family fact:  Joe had never been camping in his life until he met me.  I, on the other hand, had been camping since I was little, and spent most of my summer weekends camping on the lake when I was a teenager with my friends.   Some of the best memories of my youth are from camping.  My grandparents used to take all seven grandkids camping in Zion National Park in Utah when we were kids, and I KNOW for a fact that those trips are what did it for me.  The peace and quiet, the extra hot showers at night, the "kids tent", and my Nonny cooking up a storm in her travel trailer so us kids could eat like kings and queens after we tubed down the Virgin River all day long.  I thank my Papa and Nonny for doing that for us (I know we were a hot mess for them).   I loved being with my cousins and cherish those memories.  I have always told Joe I wanted to instill that love for camping into my kids, and felt like starting out in a tent was the right thing to do so they could learn HOW to camp.  The one thing we noticed at the campground this weekend was that the kids spent most of the time inside the RV rather that outside.  You don't have that option if you tent camp, now do you?  Nope!  If you stay in the tent in Mississippi over Memorial Day Weekend you will D I E!  Not that there is anything at all wrong with camping in a luxury trailer, but I know my kids and they'd be inside chilling the whole time and in my humble opinion that is not my idea of camping.  YET.  Catch me in ten years when I'm wrangling grandkids and I'm sure this post will be much much different and I will be reveling in my new awesome RV.

Back to Joe... I was shocked when I learned Joe had never been camping.  Who hasn't been camping?  Apparently if you are a born and raised in the Bronx black man you don't camp a lot (ever).  I also neglected to realize the lack of African-American campers until Joe pointed out to me "my people don't camp".  Huh.  Turns out he's right.  As a matter of fact, there was one black family out of 200 camping with us at Jellystone, and when the guy and Joe randomly crossed paths they waived at each other like they were long lost best childhood friends.  Anyway, when Joe told me he didn't camp, I thought... this could be a deal breaker!!!  But I knew that if I got him out there he would love it.  I begged him to go just once, and after the first night he was hooked.  We camped ourselves to death that first summer, and loved every second of it.  

So when I was taking down the tent, I got incredibly sad.  We have had that giant ten person tent since the "first set" of kids were little and we took them camping.  As I rolled up that tent for the last time, I was flooded with the memories of our three oldest kids laughing at all hours of the night in that tent, Jamaal tripping inside because a fly scared him and bringing the whole thing down with him, the endless grass I would sweep out of it after I told them to STOP DRAGGING THE GRASS IN!!  And the laughter and love of three sweet kids that are now adults.  Eventually Justice came along, and the tent was fuller with a sweet little boy that loved to collect frogs and pinecones and would beg to go "to the camping".  And now adding Jack to the tent has brought everything full circle for us, and we are so thankful to have made these memories with our children.

While I am very excited about our new popup camper (it has a shower, AC, heater, fridge and toilet!!), it's hard for me to close the latest chapter of our family life that has had such a huge impact on me, and hopefully the kids.  I will never get rid of the tent, I already know that much.  I couldn't stand to part with it.  I'm pretty sure I will get over it though, the very first time I have to pee at 2 AM and don't have to go outside!