Vacation Revelations

We were out camping for a week in September. We pitched a tent on my parents riverfront property in Marietta Saturday through Thursday morning. We were able to spend a lot of nice time with them, boating, swimming and hanging out. While out and about, we found some really neat folk art wall pieces in the window of a furnace installing place. They had prices of 10.00 each on them. We couldn't believe it, but we called the guy and it was true! They are great pieces made from lath from old homes and from the wood of crates that furnaces are shipped out on.

We pitched a tent at Lake Hope State Park from Tuesday night through Friday morning. We had listened to the weather, heard about the possibility of rain, so we opted to hotel it for one night. Here were some funny things that I learned/had happen on our trip.

1. My child is a nudist at heart. After I heated "bath water" up on the fire (yes, I had my pioneer woman hat on), K- stripped down and ran around with nothing but sandals singing "It's BATH TIME! It's BATH TIME!" Now, in all fairness, there was no one else around. We chose a remote end of the camp on a long stretch of a site under a lot of trees. No one saw or heard a thing.

2. K- is fascinated with harvestmen. She can tell you the difference between them and a daddy long legs and why they aren't the same. (Thanks Kinderealm Spider Day before we left.)

3. My husband has now learned to trust me more than the National Weather Service. His wife IS right about rain. I can hear thunder and I was right that it was coming. Thankfully, he believed me regardless to what the computer guy's voice was saying. Just as we were finishing packing up, it started to rain.

4. K- needs to perfect her on-the-fly peeing. Poor kid peed on me and on her clothes twice.

5. When it is 95 degrees out and you are doing the bulk of your hiking for the week, the new Dove Energizing deodorant stands up to the challenge.

6. There is a horned grasshopper and we saw him.

7. There is a pencil sharpener museum run by a retired minister and we went.

8. There is a stretch of road from Hocking Hills to Nelsonville that involves a lot of bellyflopper hills. I almost made Hubs ill. I made K- laugh every time, though.

9. Premade packs of campfire wood from the park never burn like they should.

10. I listened to Screech Owls have a territorial dispute for about 45 minutes in the middle of the night one night.

11. Go Paint from Elmers is a great idea, but even better if you can actually get into the package. I've written to them. Interestingly enough, they never responded. No acknowledgement, either.

12. If you let a child wash camp dishes, they will be entertained for a very long stretch of time.

13. Light up bracelets (those glowy ones that you buy in a tube) will glow so bright that they are like a night light in your tent. We had to wait until K- fell asleep so that we could hide hers. It was too bright!

14. When you have unplugged for a week and re-entry is the form of a hotel, you get questions like:

A. Mommy, will they have a flushing toilet?

B. Will they have a nice clean bathtub?

C. Will they have a nice shower for Daddy?

Upon entering said room, you hear (as child walks past the microwave, TV and refrigerator) "Mommy! Look! They have drawers! You can put your clothes in these!" (In her defense, we had our clothes in a laundry basket and her clothes in a box, open in the car.)

D. [Mommy's body shut down upon entering said room and much TV was watched. After probably the 12th episode of Dog Whisperer . . . ] "Mommy, if you watch too much TV, you'll burn up your brain."

Oh, baby. Mommy's brain needed rest. And her body. Mommy was just getting ready to re-enter and do all that laundry that we amassed from a week of camping. Tent camping. With lots of dirt.