Camping

Why oh why oh why would I even attempt to do this with 5 kids I have no idea. But sometimes I get these ideas in my head that things are going to be wonderful fun. I get let down every single time but I still try to find things to do that will be a success....so camping isn't one of them. My in-laws have a camper in southern Indiana so we decide to go there for a long weekend. We haven't been camping in years and 2 kids ago. So the packing starts Friday night, making a list and checking it twice, buying groceries to feed an army.

I think that one car, well my van, would be enough room. This is only a one overnight, two day trip. WRONG!!!! My van was loaded up in no time at all with 7 bags of clothes, I am unsure why we each had to have our own, blankets pillows, a cooler, food, air mattress, etc. So the truck had to be packed we still needed the playpen, walker, fishing poles, tackle boxes, stroller, and bikes.

We left Saturday morning with great excitement which of course ended about an hour into the trip, the confused one is sick and screaming, we have to get her out of the car seat (I know illegal) and hold her before I have a nervous breakdown. My husband's truck doesn't have air conditioner but I was thinking, wait he only has one kid with him and I have four I can do without air conditioner if I only have to deal with one kid. Maybe I can talk him into me driving the van on the way back.

We get there two hours later and in no time at all it's I am bored, there is nothing to do, when are we going fishing, why are we here, I am hungry, blah blah blah. So I make a list of things to find on a scavenger hunt, I must have the laziest kids in the world I have one that decides OK he will go, he got about one step into the woods and decides no. I suggest a bike ride and even get on a bike and go with them. That also lasted a few minutes when they decided they were going back. What is a matter with these kids, we camped all the time as children and I thought it was great. I have one buried in sand, one screaming, one playing his PSP that he hide in his bag, one begging to go fish and another looking for boys.

We get the tent up and 3 are sleeping with us and 2 are in the camper. The confused one was up all night and I ended up in the van, that is after I had terrible diarrhea since I drank way to much in order to deal with the false ideas of a great family vacation in my head. I did discover that my van seats don't lay all the way down so I attempted to sleep at an angle holding a baby and seat belts digging into my back. I slept there until I got to cold and went back to the tent it wasn't any warmer but it did have blankets and body heat.

The morning comes and the fishing trip is off. My father-in-law left his registration at home so they couldn't take the boat out. At this time I was looking for any sharp object to just end my misery, I had little sleep and felt terrible, again from the drinking. So they day continued with I am bored, there is nothing to do, when are we leaving, what are we supposed to do??? We decided to go into town where there are go cart tracks, so the kids did that. It was supposed to be a nice weekend but when we got to that track I think it was about 100 degrees.

I was over finally the trip home was upon us. I wouldn't even stop and get a drink, I was headed North and no one could stop me. I couldn't get home fast enough, I didn't care about making dinner and the endless piles of laundry all of a sudden, I just wanted out of this nightmare. Needless to say they are no camping trips made for the future. And one of them had the nerve to ask me when we were going back camping today. HA!!! NEVER