A Long Summers Night

Nearing the official end of Summer, we packed up the camping gear and headed North for the G3 Ward Campout.  Discovered that:

• Yes, Denise still hates "tenting" it.
• If you are the heaviest person on the air mattress, the other person rides high all night.
• Denise has cold feet and is all to willing to try and warm them on her partner.
• Denise sleep talks regardless of where she is sleeping.
• Contrary to popular belief, dogs covered in fur do get cold(and start barking at 3:30 am)
• Kids can sleep through anything.
• It's worth driving from latrine to latrine to find the cleanest one.

We had great fun even though Denise and I collectively got about two hours of sleep.  Jesse and Josh decided to "man up" and sleep under the stars.  That is, until the skunk arrived.  Jess went face to face and scared it off by repeatedly calling it a HOBO (a familiar but often unused skunk insult) and pushing it with his pillow.  Not sure how that applies but it seemed to work.  Both boys quickly moved to a vacant tent for the rest of the night. 


Denise woke me up to tell me that 1. She thought someone had stolen our shoes  2.  She heard an animal eating something outside the tent  3.  Did I put the garbage away?  4.  To tell me she was cold 
5.  The dog was barking  6.  She had to go potty  7.  To ask me if I heard the strange laughing noise(coyotes)  8.  To tell me she was cold, again   8.  To tell me Olivia was awake.


As we pulled in the driveaway at home, Olivia remarked that she loved camping because it was so relaxing.  I don't think she noticed the loading of all gear, unloading all gear, putting up two tents, preparing dinner, prepping kids for bed, being woken up 8 times during the night, cooking breakfast for 260 people, cleaning up breakfast, taking down two tents, packing 5 sleeping bags, reloading all gear under the threat of rain, driving home hoping the car battery would last, unloading all gear, cleaning coolers, putting all gear back in bins, doing laundry and washing the car.  She's right, it was relaxing!