Camping

Very few actually know what a rockin' mom I really am and since I don't ordinarily like to toot my own "Rockin' Mom" horn, not many ever will. But occasions of extra rockin'-ness such as this warrant vigorous horn-tooting. And so I commence...

Josh recently finished his LAST SUMMER SEMESTER as a Dental Student! Meaning, that we have a whopping 8 months left until I get to see my stud muffin in a cap and gown. We decided to make our last break between summer and fall semesters one that the boys (at least the two older ones...) would remember. (When I say "We" you know I mean "I" as I am the rockin' one here...). The boys had been begging to go camping, probably because Caillou loves to camp. He is the coolest bald kid on PBS, after all.

Being something of an allergy-stricken indoor girl, Josh assumed that I would want no part of that. Or rather, perhaps he hoped... hmm... but rather than let the boys have all the fun, I opted to introduce my boys to the "Sloan" way of camping.

The plan: To drive to Mt. Charleston and find a camp ground for over night. We found one wonderful campsite at "Hill Top" campground (The view was A-mazing!) and set up our tent, "kitchen area" and "explored" in the woods. We took hikes, ate ridiculously unhealthy foods in large amounts, and played Uno until one sore loser put an end to that. By the time the sun was setting, our boys were obviously tired and it was quite plain that they would sleep like champions, even in a tent. Explore the rest of the night with me:

8:31: All three boys, sound asleep in their respective beds. Parents quietly chatting under a beautiful full moon.

8:45: Dad concedes that buying the lantern that Mom suggested would have been nice to play games by. (We didn't build a fire on purpose. I didn't think that it was the safest thing to have a blazing fire and a curious 15-month-old.)

9:00: Equally tired parents decide the wise thing to do would be to brush teeth and turn in.

9:15: Mom discovers that toilets have a curfew as the door to the closest "Vault" toilet is locked.

9:21: Mom explores options of open-range peeing.

9:36: Parents in bed and children still asleep.

9:42: Frantic giggling under the covers as parents learn that at least one of their boys is a "sleep tooter".

10:02: The first squeaks erupt from Child 1's air mattress as he rolls over.

10:03: Child 3, screaming.

10:45: Child 3, asleep, being put back in crib.

10:46: Child 3, screaming.

11:27: Child 3, asleep, being put back in crib.

11:28: Child 3, screaming.

11:45: Child 3, asleep, yet thrashing in Parent's bed.

11:47: Child 3, evicted from parent's bed.

12:01: Soft rustling sounds as Dad takes Child 3 to the van for a drive.

3:00: Dad awakened by Child 3, screaming in car seat.

3:01: Dad learns that he should have moved the lumbar support while sleeping in the car.

3:10: Dad refills Child 3's milk and rocks him to sleep.

3:17: Child 1, jealous and awake in Parent's bed, asking why Dad got to take a hike in the dark.

4:23: Child 3 in parent's bed, cuddling with Mom; Dad sleeping sideways on bottom of air mattress, cuddling Mom's feet.

5:15: Child 1, awake, announcing that "The sun is up! It's day!"

5:16: Child 1, 2, & 3, awake for the day.

5:30: Family walk around the campground.

5:45: Mom discovers that toilets don't so much have curfews as broken doorknobs and with a little ingenuity uses the most disgusting "Flush Toilet" in history.

6:00: Breakfast of Pop Tarts and Apple Juice in the tent. Note to self: Bad idea.

8:00: Family hike up Robber's Roost which would be slept through by Child 3.

11:00: Breaking down camp and heading home for grilled cheese and showers.

Perhaps Mason's just not ready for camping... but I am still pretty rockin'. Basically, the "Sloan" way of anything, rocks. Even when it turns out that bad. You wouldn't believe it, but the boys had a blast and can't wait to do it all over again. Even I'd do it over again... but only with a healthy dose of Dimetapp around 8:29.

Mason after some "exploring". Boys may as well be made of dirt...

*Sadly, this is really the only picture we took. We realized halfway to Mt. Charleston that we forgot the camera to document our rockin'-ness but the boys were too excited to turn around. We decided to rely on our camera phones (picture taken above), not realizing that searching for signal because you're on top of a mountain would result in two dead phones after 1 hour. Live n' learn, I guess...