Father's Day Camping III: Belly Bumpers

Ten of the thirteen kids

Before we headed to the lake on Friday, I spent a good portion of my morning following Declan around as he tried to put every single one of his belongings in my car. He didn’t want to play with his toys. He cried when I got his trucks out. It was very confusing. I finally figured out that a raccoon had visited the Pilcher campsite overnight on Thursday and a Pilcher boy had described the nocturnal apple robbery in great detail to Dec. He was not about to have his things stolen by “Ricky the Racoon.”

Even while knowing it was a lost cause, I started with logic. Raccoons only come out at night. Nope – don’t care. Raccoons are scared of people. Super don’t care. So we fell back to creativity. I explained to Declan that luckily, I had remembered to spray all our stuff with “raccoon spray” – which they don’t like at all and keeps them away. Even his trucks. And that I bet Auntie Cheryl had forgotten to spray the cooler where the apple was. Dec trotted off to verify with C. Although she had absolutely no idea what he was talking about, she gamely agreed that she had forgotten to “raccoon spray” that spot. And just like that, we were back on track.

With full confidence that our belongings were safe from that scavenger Ricky the Raccoon, we headed down to the lake. The water was surprisingly cold (just putting your ankles in was a bit of a shock), but with the hot and humid day, it felt really good to stand in the lake and watch the kids. The adults that chose to sit at the table in the shade were really hot and sweaty by the end of beach time.

Between the families, we had three kid kayaks and two regular kayaks. I spent a good part of my day in the kayak zone, helping launch people and occasionally swimming out to save a wayward kayaker (steering is hard). All three of our kids tried some solo kayaking. Fiona was really getting the hang of it, but still prefers to hang out in the big kayak and have Cooper paddle her all over the lake. It seemed that Cooper preferred that as well and was more than happy to take her out whenever she wanted.

After some analysis, Quinn tested out the solo kayak – and did so great. She even ventured out a little deeper than I expected she would. But she very much wanted to know I was watching and would retrieve her if needed. Dec did a pretty good job and loved when Cooper would walk in the water next to his kayak and help him paddle. He also took a turn (or four) on the Cooper Express in the big kayak.

After some quiet time in the afternoon, Brad and Cheryl pulled out the birthday present that we had given the boys – inflatable “belly bumpers.” Then we laughed and laughed as the kids tested them out for the rest of the day. Dec and Hannah were quite the pair and Hannah loved getting knocked over. There were also some good brother vs brother and sister vs sister matches. Mike and I even squeezed into them (squeeze is a very accurate word) – and were grateful for friends to help us get back out of them! Hot and sweaty does not make extraction easy!

In addition to the belly bumpers, Dennis found some water balloons and the kids had a great time throwing balloons at each other. After the fight, Dennis announced he would give the kid who picked up the most balloon pieces a dollar. And exactly no one was surprised when Quinn crushed that challenge. She did such a good job that Dennis gave her two dollars! My friend Wally came for dinner (he lives about 10 minutes from the campground) and we had a great time hanging out with him. There were s’mores and a repeat of late night campfire antics.

Saturday was essentially a repeat of Friday with a hot and sticky early morning run with Eric, a trip to the beach, and belly bumpers. The only difference was that it rained almost all morning, so everyone was a bit stuck in their own camper. The kids did a pretty good job with it, including a few games of Memory and inviting Hannah over for Play-doh. The rain stopped by lunch time and with the heat, other than a few mud puddles (which no short bikers seemed to mind), everything dried up quickly!

We went back to the beach, had a late dinner, made more s’mores, rode bikes everywhere, and swatted more bugs. The kids were grateful for the more packed dirt because of the rain. There were significantly fewer skinned knees on Saturday! The campfire crew didn’t last as late that night, but there was some late night game playing in Eric and Melissa’s camper. I chose bed. Mike did not. Neither did Eric. And yet, there he and I were Sunday morning at 7:30 am. Running in the pouring rain. About a mile in, the rain stopped. And then it was so hot, we wished for it to rain again. But we were incredibly proud that we put in about 10 miles during the weekend!

The dads had all claimed on Saturday that we would hang out until lunchtime on Sunday. But based on life choices the night before, they were ready to just pack it up and head home. Melissa and I walked our crew to the playground while Mike and Eric took our camper to the dump station and got the bikes all loaded it.

It was obscenely hot, but the kids did a great job on the long walk. Sweet Eli happily walked at Fiona’s snail pace and chatted with her the whole way (they were quite the little pair during the weekend … once I explained to her how all the “mean” things she thought he was doing was actually him trying to get her to play with him!). Ethan and Quinn set the pace and keep trying to hurry their slow-poke sibs up. At the park, E and E found baby toads. Quinn even held one in her hand (to my great shock!).

We had such a fun time … and next year’s sites are already booked. Same time, same place, same group. Can’t wait!