The weekend that was

I admittedly went into last weekend with certain expectations from it. Certainly, I came away from it, still smiling and quite happy with the time spent with the boys. The weekend, however, did not go as planned.
The forecast all week had been for marvelous weather through Sunday. Not extremely warm, but comfortable none the less. I am quite sure I checked it Friday morning, but perhaps I last checked on it the night before. Either way, someone failed meteorology and the forecast was actually made from a fortune cookie brought forth from someone's butt. Sunny skies Friday morning gave way to clouds as we set up camp in Luray and spiraled downward from there. I digress.
We arrived at the Jellystone Campground in Luray about 1:30 Friday. Still fairly nice out. Mason and I enjoyed the views over the Shenandoah National park as we headed west on Rt 211 into Luray. Matt had fallen asleep so was oblivious to the wilderness around us. The campground looked clean and well kept as it always has. There were few campers and we were the first tent campers. Checking in provided an opportunity for Mason and Matthew to inform me that they wanted pretty much everything in the camp store.
We were shown the way to our site by the "ranger". I must say the staff have always been very friendly. Our site was one of the "primitive" tent sites, and we were certainly away from any other campers. Unloading the car was easy and the boys played around to allow me to get it done without interruption. They were discovering ants and other bugs in the woods by the site. I had the boys help with our tent. I am able to get this tent set up solo, but I try to give the boys "chores" in camp. Their help does make it easier. With little fuss, the site was made ready. No sweat. Temps still great, but bugs were more plentiful than I was expecting. A little "OFF" kept us comfortable. Skies were cloudy enough now, that I put up the rainfly. I had hoped that this was not going to be needed this weekend.More campers started to arrive. Many had rented the cabins at the campground. I finally saw another tent go up. I had started feeling out of place.
The boys and I spent the remainder of the day checking out the campground. The theme for the weekend was the "Jellystone 500" which was to include making your own box cars an dracing them, and then racing your R/C cars ona track the staff was to set up at the pavilion. This was to occur on Saturday, however. I brought the card game "Uno" and thought the boys would like that. Wasn't happening. Mason decided looking at his books was more enjoyable. I ended up lighting the a Citronella lantern that was on a bamboo post. The mayflies were getting pretty thick. This worked remarkably well. I would use them again. I suggested we go to the playground, and the boys were thrilled. I brought some brochures I picked up in the camp store and we were off. They were very happy to see other kids, and I wished we were camping in a group. Either way, the boys were having fun. would have made the boys happy as well. After a while, we headed back to the site for dinner. Now, I am really pretty good about teaching the boys about safety with campfires, and being careful with things around camp. I try to instill some safety conscience into them when I can. I will also now refer you back to my lighting of the citronella lantern. Yes, I had left it going. Matthew was talking as we approached the camp and suddenly said, " Our candle fell over". The lantern had burned down and burned the stick. This had now fallen over and scorched about a one foot diameter area and was till burning in another. You will notice in the camp photo that we were under pine trees. There were pine needles thickly spread on the ground. How the whole area did not go up, I can't tell. I casually stamped the fire out and explained to the boys "we" The playground also offers some nice views up to the Shenandoah National Park, and I found myself wondering if a little jaunt in the woods needed to be more careful. I quickly went to the cooler and opened a beer. The cooler was then placed over the burnt area so Yogi and the Ranger wouldn't haul my butt away for being such a dumb ass. Dinner went by with the boys fussing over pretty much anything I offered them. I was determined to let it go. Another bottle of beer helped. I got the campfire going and went to get the fixin's for S'mores. No graham crackers. I used the animal crackers to grab the hot , melting marshmallows. The burning to my fingers was sufficient punishment for that blunder. I did not go to the cooler again for a beer. Mistakes were piling up enough that I would have to drink my supply of beer the first night if things continued as they were. Instead, we started ghost stories. The stories coming from a 4 and a 6 year old are actually quite amusing at times. Soon it was off to bed. the boys have always been fine in the tent and they were sleeping in no time. I got to try out my new 20 degree mummy bag. I was a little too toasty at night until I left the side open, then I did fine.
Morning came in pretty gray. I had a feeling it was not going to clear at this point. The boys had not moved all night. They were all cozy in the nest of sleeping bags I made them. I got my coffee going and all seemed right in the world. As I went to get the pancake mix, the thought came to me that I had not packed butter or syrup. I eyed the beer cooler.....nah. I got the eggs and sausage ready and thought up my speech at how great it would be to save the pancakes for Sunday before leaving. After breakfast, we washed the dishes and headed down to the camp store for graham crackers, butter and syrup, worms, and check the prices on beer to see how much it was going to cost me to manage further problems on this day. I had promised fishing, and so it was. The boys eagerly watched as I opened the containers of "Canadian Night Crawlers" Alas the Canadian worms did not survive the trip across the border, and all that was left was lines of mold where their bodies had been. Ewww!! was the general chorus from the boys. It was nasty. I was graciously given a new container with new and improved canuck worms. Baiting the hooks was , of course, left to me. Eyes were wide as the hooks pierced the worms. Matt was looking for blood. Mason and Matt both got nibbles on the first cast, with Mason landing a real "whopper" of a Sunfish. Matt remained unlucky, however he also lost interest to some boulders that were ripe for climbing. Thankfully, the worms ran out, and I was able to finally clean my hands from the worm massacre. We returned to camp to put things away. The camp crafts period started, so I took the boys there. The daily craft is free, right up my alley. It is free because it probably costs about 15 cents in supplies and lasts about a half hour. Mason was hoping to get the $15 ceramic dolphin to paint and the $10 T-shirt to color....not happening. Tears flowed. Time for lunch and a beer. Clouds getting darker. After lunch we discovered the the box car derby required a team of five to participate in. Way to publish details , people. Tears again. Smiles were back with the announcement I would take the boys to play mini golf ( I had 2 beers with lunch). Mason actually got a hole in one on the first hole. I was shocked. I shot a 4. Matt around 25. Luckily we were the only ones at the course. Matthew was trying to keep his score below 1000. I don't think it worked. The rain started around the 16th hole. Just light, but I had a bad feeling. Play finally ended with Matt accidentally walking off with his club and having to turn around and return it. The rain was becoming more steady and we quickened our pace back to the tent. By the time we got there, I was scrambling to get things thrown in the car and the boys in the tent without getting the inside of the tent wet or muddy. I did not bring the canopy and I left the chairs out. I will not do that again. Everything to sit on was wet afterwards. From now on, the canopy goes up, no matter what the forecast.
The rain lasted a few hours. Matt and I got a nap in, and Mason was content listening to the rain and looking at his nature books. we played games initially, but it deteriorated to seeing who could make farting noises with their hand and armpit. I'm not proud. The rain finally ended. The R/C car race was a thought, until I saw that the R/C cars people had did about 50mph and had tires bigger than the van's. The rain had it's reward, however, by leaving a beautiful sight of clouds up in the mountains. The splendor was lost on the boys. Hopes did increase when I realized it was time for the wagon ride with Yogi. We had to run. Matt was not happy. We made the ride just in time. What joy! Mason was more interested in people watching and Matt was still unhappy. The young lad to the right of Yogi in the picture was just effusing happiness and love. I'm still perplexed by the diva to the left of Yogi.
Finally, the day was drawing to a close and I could occupy myself with getting dinner. Hotdogs, kielbasa, 2 different side salads, fruit Jello. I thought I was a shoe-in. Not to be. Both boys were pretty picky and ate little. They were saving room for S'mores and candy. After dinner we went down to the theater for a board game of racing which one submitted a candy bar to pick the winning "horse". Ahhh betting on races; now that is what I wanted to get the kids into. we turned in our 3 candy bars and lost every single bet..er .. pick. Mason wanted money to buy soda and whatever the other machines in the room offered. The pain of that little experience soon ended and we were heading back to camp. I promised a roaring campfire and yummy S'mores. I had shelled out yet more money for campfire wood. The fire was lit and roaring, much as I was wishing I was at that point, and I started to unload supplies. The rain started again. steady right off the bat. I got the wood in the van since I was still sweating from splitting it. We retired to the tent again. no going out. Pajamas were put on and the need to pee before bedtime was universally denied ( you know where I am going with that right?). the rain stopped before I fell asleep. At 3 am I awoke to rain starting,, but more importantly to the distinct drop in temperature and very powerful odor of urine. I was dry. I did the automatic grab for Matt's crotch...yup...soaked. But wait, there's more! Mason, too, had wet the sleeping bag. I now had to children who would get hypothermic from cold temps and being in wet clothes. I dutifully headed to the van in my boxers to retrieve dry sleeping bags and clothes for the boys. Now I was getting wet and cold. Soon all was made right and the boys were cozy and warm. I got back in my bag and realized it was getting quite windy. The noise was becoming a roar in the trees. soon the tent wall was blowing in and snapping back up fairly frequently. I awaited the cries of fear from the kids. Finally Matt cried briefly. "What's the matter?" I asked. "I don't want pizza!" was the reply. He was dreaming. That was the last noise from him. I finally fell asleep around 5 am to cool temps and clean smelling air. it was actually very comfortable. I woke an hour or so later with the sun shining on me and crystal clear skies. Temp now 40 degrees. I let the boys sleep. I wanted to get a fire going for their warmth when they got up. I got the coffee going. I discovered it was decaf as I was pouring it. My mood was less than adequate. I got the boys up and considered just throwing everything in the van and going to a restaurant and ordering everything possible. I did not and became determined to make a good breakfast for the boys. Pancakes were a hit! Matt ate 3 stacks. Mason one stack and 4 sausages. It made my day! The breakfast over, it was time to clean up. The weekend was over. Despite it all, the boys were sad to leave. I was happy with that, and felt I had done it right after all. And so, we packed up. The sun was shining and it was about 57 degrees. It was a gorgeous day just in time for leaving. Mistakes? sure, but it was agreat weekend. Can't wait to go again! In summation I taught the kids to play cards, bet on races, and make farting noises with their hands and armpit. Priceless.