We left our house for the girls very first big camping adventure around 10:00am Friday morning. Greg had already gone down to the park and set up camp so all we had to do is join him.
It rained All Day Long. We arrived at Wold Run State Park at approximately 11:30am, after stopping only once to fix the DVD player and rescue 'Baby' (Payton's lovey) from the bowels of the backseat.
The rain had left the site a muddy, muddy mess, so the first part of the day was spent in our friend's camper. The girls enjoyed it as much as they could and were entertained by the mere fact of being someplace new. A few hours into the adventure had us scrambling to change plans and making arrangements in case it should happen to rain all weekend. A trip to the local Wal-Mart found us buying water shoes for the little ones and exchanging the DVD player which had gone haywire on the ride down. Upon returning to the park, the rain had slowed to a drizzle and the girls were set free outside.
There was lots of mud to play in, along with rocks to carry and bugs to chase.
At some point in time during the day it was deemed acceptable to greet all incoming company with a show of the belly. Everyone within seeing distance was greeted in such manner.
Of course they had a blast. They even got to try out the 4-wheelers Greg bought them just for camping. What better way to enjoy the mud?
It turned out to be an ok day after all. The girls got to spend lots of time with their family, including their "West Virginia Grandparents" (friends of ours we've known forever.
Finally around 6:30 we decided to give them a bath in the camper, and attempt bedtime. We didn't think it would be an issue as they went right down for nap ... ha! Through the course of the previous weeks we had devised a plan for nighttime. If we folded out the couch and dinette, both Pack n Plays could sit on top and we would still have an open walkway to the bathroom. Sounded good at least. Once we got everyone settled, furniture moved around, and babies down all the reasonings this wouldn't work began to show themselves. They discovered the mini blinds on the windows. We opened the windows. They discovered us outside. We attempted to ignore them, even through the banging and laughing. Both sat and watched through the window for at least an hour or more before giving up and falling asleep ... or so we thought.
Around 9:00pm I hear Addi fussing on the monitor. I figured she had lost her binky and went it to replace it. Leaning back on the couch, to look behind the Pack n Play, I noticed a dark shape on the cushion. I felt it. I was a small circle. Hmmm.
Then I realized it was a pretzel, and it wasn't alone. Like the scene in "Daddy Daycare" where Eddie Murphy walks into the messy bathroom, I looked up and around with confusion and something akin to horror on my face. Then I laughed. The little imp now looking down at me from the top of her bed had reached up above her to the shelf and helped herself to a bag of Chex Mix. As far as we can tell she spent her evening eating and tossing around approximately 1/3 of a bag. I can hear her in my mind when she discovered it. "Cracker!" she would have said in glee.
I cleaned up the best I could in the dark and settled myself on our bed to read. She dozed off shortly after and both spent the rest of the night dreaming of giant Pumpernickel rounds and cruncy cereal bits.
