Kids First Camping Trip

September 11th, 2005 | jchaager | kids

This weekend, Karin and I decided to take the kids camping for the first time. We figured that it would be easier to find a campsite the weekend after Labor Day. So, Friday we packed up the van and headed out to Mt. Rainier’s white River Campground.

We made it to the campground, found a nice campsite, and started setting up camp. We got the tent setup, loaded the air mattresses and sleeping bags in, and got the chairs setup around the fire pit.

We hadn’t bothered to purchase any firewood since we were planning on getting it at the campground after we arrived. Unfortunately, the person in charge of supplying the firewood didn’t make his delivery on Friday. That meant we had to wait for the grandparents to arrive with the dog and a supply of firewood.

Finally, about 7:30 PM, my parents showed up, and we started getting the fire started. Too bad it had started raining in the meantime. We got the fire going, roasted a few weenies, and headed to bed. Or rather, tried to head to bed.

Bethany was so tired, but she kept getting out of bed and climbing around the tent. Oma finally got her to lay down and go to sleep by singing to her. All this time, the rain has been continuing to fall.

Sometime during the middle of the night, the rain decided that it missed us and started leaking into the tent onto the sleeping bags. Not sure how it happened, but it really made for a miserable night.

6:45 AM, and Bethany was up with the morning light. The rain continued to pound the tent and leak inside. Finally, I decided that I wasn’t having any fun, and that the camping trip was over. I pulled my clothes on and got out of the tent to start packing things up. Only to discover that it was….

Snowing!

Yes, snow had reached down the mountain to the campground and was falling in big wet flakes. It was rapidly sticking to the ground, roads, and worst of all, the tent. We quickly rolled up the sleeping bags, deflated the air mattresses, threw everything into the car and headed for home.

Needless to say, camping has been checked off the list of things to do with the kids. It’ll be a long time before it makes it back on the list.

With all the ruckus over getting things set up, getting out of the rain, and then packing up and leaving, I never got to take any pictures. Which is too bad, because Bethany and Christopher looked so cute in their warm coats.

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