Otherwise entitled: "Why Camping With Kids is Sort of Like Giving Birth."
It wasn't our most pleasant vacation experience. The packing and preparation for camping is much more complicated and time consuming than for any other kind of getaway. On our first family camping trip three years ago, my husband wondered why we'd need to bring so much more stuff than we go to the fully furnished and equipped beach cottage we normally go to. "Um, we need to bring OUR ACTUAL HOUSE (the tent) with us. And all of our bedding, cooking supplies, eating utensils, food, cooler..." The light bulb went off and he called his friend at the car rental agency so we could rent a bigger car for the week.
This time we were only going away for two days so we made it all fit in my clown car (fits exactly the seven of us and has very little trunk space) with only one of the large car top canvas bags being used.
Our campsite was rocky. We could move some loose ones but there were plenty of big ones sticking out from deep in the ground that wouldn't budge so we got free all night "massages". It rained just enough to make everything slightly damp -- including the firewood (even though we purchased it inside the general store) and the towels we brought (that we were hoping to not only use as towels but to cushion our rocky beds with).
It was just chilly enough that I ended up wearing the same campfire-stinky sweater 24/7. On the second night, someone in the campground was playing music. It wasn't just loud, it was excessively loud. It was ground-shaking, bass-pumping, pretty-sure-there-was-a-campground-sanctioned-Rave*-we-weren't-invited-to LOUD. Luckily the kids slept through it but Daddy-O and I both laid in the dark, trying to sleep and quietly wishing the National Park Rangers would show up to "strictly enforce" that 10 o'clock curfew as they said they would. As far as we can tell, they never did. The music stopped sometime after midnight.
I forgot to pack potholders. I did, however, pack the propane grill instead of the propane stove and it was not exactly the same thing (and took up more room in the car). One of the kids had an accident in their sleeping bag in the middle of the night. A lot of campers brought dogs with them and a lot of the dogs were fond of barking frequently at the other dogs.
I wouldn't say I was miserable, but I certainly could have had a better time. And through it all, do you know what I was thinking about? I WAS THINKING ABOUT GOING CAMPING WITH THE KIDS AGAIN! Because in spite of the noise and the rocks (oh, those rocks), the rain, the chill and the urine-soaked sleeping bag, we had a really great time. When taken from the comforts of home, books, toys and electronic screens, five children figured out how to play very nicely together. On the campground's volleyball court they made up a game called "bad-valleyball" and also did some Sumo wrestling (I don't question, I just enjoy the sibling harmony). They met some other kids and started a massive game of Manhunt. They hiked five and a half miles together and found over 130 lizards that they named "yellow-bellied fire spitters." They laughed together as they sang their new camp-related verses to the Diarrhea song. They fetched kindling and jugs of water. They sat around the campfire, united in their desire for "just one more marshmallow!" They took turns sleeping next to one another in the tent. My 6-year-old laid his head on his 13-year-old sister's lap near the campfire as she caressed his face and hair and carried on about how beautiful he is. And he let her.
Way back when I was giving birth to my oldest daughter and labor was starting to get really hard, I remember thinking to myself, "Women do this TWICE?" Hours later as I held my sweet baby in my arms and stared at her adoringly, one of my well-wishers asked me how the labor was. "Not too bad!" I answered brightly. My husband laughed at my immediate-onset labor amnesia. (And the labor and deliver nurses laughed to see me back for more a mere 17 months later.)
Love for your children makes you do that.
And when you see five children ages 4, 6, 8, 12 and 13 play together without toys or screens, you forget all about the rocks you've been sleeping on. When the hugging and giggling surpass the bickering and punching, it doesn't matter how badly you slept. You forget the discomfort and start planning to do it again.
*Do they even have Raves anymore or am I completely dating myself?