Camping, cleats, and cleaning up nature

Now that the warmer weather is coming it's time for our family to start thinking about camping season again. It was such a long cold winter that we all wondered if it would ever get here. Well I think it has.

I will say that my kids have come a long way with camping. When I was younger my parents and I would make a few big trips a year and I have wonderful memories from those times. I had high hopes in taking my own kids out to the wilderness. For the record our idea of wilderness includes most major amenities. It's not true roughing it but we like it that way. I envisioned the kids and I sitting around the campfire every night looking up at the stars content with just existing. Well our first season of camping didn't go quite the way I imagined. We learned that it's okay if you forget your provincial health card when you rush into emergency. They can just look you up in the system. We also learned that it was indeed possible to have both children in the ER for two separate things in a 24 hour period. We learned that Camryn and spiders do not mix. And we also learned that 10 weeks of summer holidays is more than enough for all of us to look forward to the start of a new school year.

Luckily the second year brought fewer fingers slammed in trailer doors and luckily no little hands touched hot things that have a big sign saying "Don't touch". Guess that whole reading thing comes in handy.....the only problem is the people who really need to know that stuff couldn't read yet. Our second year had Drew in the trailer only about 50% of the season.....the first year was probably closer to 90% inside. He was so unhappy to have his world turned upside down....living in a strange place, with different food, and none of his usual toys. That second summer was a bit better for him and each year after he enjoyed more and more. By the 5th year he was actually eager to go. The problem is that the campground that we had been going to was sold and we ended up having to find a new place. Now normally this wouldn't be a big deal for most kids but both of mine have difficulty with changes. Camryn had a very hard time last summer as we drove away from the old place for the very last time. She was teary on and off for the next two weeks and then throughout the winter whenever she thought about it. To be honest I wasn't sure camping could ever be quite as much fun again. Drew on the other hand didn't seem to really put it all together that moving to a new campground meant that it would be a new place, with a new layout, different people, and different stuff.

So we headed out to my parents trailer this weekend for our first trip of the season. I really didn't know what to expect from the kids at the new site. Should I assume that it would be a weekend full of emergency room trips again? Was Camryn going to cry when she remembered that we left the old place and how sad that was for her? Would Drew end up back in the trailer for the whole weekend?

Well I will start by saying it was a challenging few days for all. Part of the trouble was that being the first weekend you always have so much set up stuff to do. Then Camryn had soccer on both Saturday and then again today. She wants to be a goalie and so Saturday was technical training. Today she had a game. Did I mention she has a game tomorrow night too? Ugh. When I was little I think we played once or twice a week and nobody had tech training. Now minor sports is half industry and half an elite club full of parents who would pull their own finger nails out just to have their kid be on the "right" team. There are trainers out there whose entire profession is running these high caliber technical training sessions for children starting at age 6 or 7 in hopes that one day they will play on the National team or get scholarships. The kids are doing something related to soccer up to 6 times a week. I kid you not. When I was 7 I think my parents were just happy to find a girls team that wasn't too far a drive from our house. I even remember years when there weren't enough girls in my age group to even have a round robin. We ended up joining other age groups. Now each club has about 10 girls teams in an age group and there are about 10 clubs in Calgary. So this is serious business and regardless of our camping plans we drove Camryn back into the city for training. Luckily our new campground isn't very far away. Before you get the wrong impression I am not one of those parents who would do anything to get my kid on the so called right team. I want her to learn the value of hard work, being part of a team, getting active, and most importantly to have fun doing it. Her division usually only has 2 or 3 things a week and that's fine with me. I think it's still good to be a kid and have free time too.

Back at the campground I could tell both kids had some difficulty with the changes. Drew spent most of the time in the trailer again but he did spend a bit of time playing with the kids next door to us. CamrynCamryn squished into a little corner with headphones on to block the sounds of the other humans around her.

We also discovered some new creatures in this campground. In our old one we had lots of gophers and the odd bat flying overhead when the bugs came out at night. We heard people talking about foxes from time to time and you could hear coyotes at night but otherwise it was mostly the dogs from the campground that made up our "nature" there. This new place definitely seems more wild. There is a family of deer that we saw 3 times in 48 hours. When one sauntered across the road today as we drove back into the area I thought that would make Camryn's whole weekend. She was pretty excited but then as we continued to drive to our spot further into the campground we saw a red winged black bird up close. From the back seat I hear Camryn exclaim "Well slap me twice and call me a hippy!!". Both her Grandpa and I broke out laughing. Let me start by saying that nobody in our family has ever said this phrase to my knowledge and it sounds similar to a line that was used in one of Camryn's favourite cartoons. The actual line is "Well slap me twice and call me Sally". I can only assume that this is where it originated from. I'd bet a hundred bucks that Camryn has no idea what a hippy is but it was still pretty cute.

So overall it was a very busy and wacky weekend. The grown-ups had to shoo the kids outside more than a few times. There is a TV and DVD player but we tend to reserve it for days when it's really rotten weather. The kids spent more than a few hours watching videos this weekend while we attempted to make a bit of progress on getting stuff ready and set up. When they weren't glued to the screen and had been encouraged to go outside the kids were often climbing back in the trailer after just a short period of time. Camryn was able to amuse the adults as well as herself with her new found favourite camping activity as seen below.

I am happy to report that the woods are now a little bit cleaner. Camryn spent at least 3 hours this weekend sweeping the dirt clean from leaves and rocks. When I say dirt I mean full out dirt. Apparently it was too messy. Now we have the cleanest dirt in the entire place. At least it's not a video game. Wild and wacky. Bring on summer!!