Our First Camping Trip

Guest post by Mr. Graff! This one is from awhile ago, we actually just survived our second family camping trip. 

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Our first family camping trip was a success!

By which I mean we ate food, slept in a tent, and did a little bit of hiking. And rock climbing. 

And playing in water fountains.  That was the best game ever.  Once the little boys figure that game out, we were afraid we wouldn’t see them again.  At least we knew where to find them.

We got to our campsite, up in the mountains of Hawaii, in the “African plants” section of the botanical garden.  We set up our tent, pulled some things out of the car, and dashed for cover as it started pouring.  Rae and I (and some of our foodstuff) went to the tent, while Icie and the others found cover in the dish-washing area.  

I’m glad they were able to stay dry.

After playing in sinks, water fountains, etc, we decided to try hiking.  We found a lake!  We’re all about water, there. 

We also found a butter tree. Not sure how to harvest butter from it, but we’re willing to try planting one and finding out when we have some yard space of our own.

We went back to camp and started cooking dinner.  As it turned out, we were so focused on boys, clothes, food, bedding, etc that we forgot to bring any lighter fluid or candle or anything to get the fire going.  And a pot for all of the things we brought that would cook in or with boiling water.  And the apples got left behind, too. We did have a propane stove, though, and a boy scout hibachi grill.  Dang it, I was going to have a fire!

It worked.  Even with all the rain.  Icie and I had bread and cold lentil curry while the fire was getting going, and the boys had all the bread, cheese, and raisins they could handle.  Then we got down to making s’mores. Rae liked making s’mores more that he liked actually eating them!

When it was time for bed, we found out that the boys were absolutely determined to sleep on the cots we’d brought for ourselves.  And, after we’d won, that we couldn’t actually sleep on the cots we’d brought for ourselves.  We’re going to have to work on that.

The next morning, I was the only one to have oatmeal for breakfast.  It turns out that everyone else likes their oatmeal cooked, and you know, we’d forgotten that pot to boil water.  We had plenty of bread, cheese, and raisins, though, which was some of the boys’ favorite foods.  Some of us got leftover chocolate and mallows, too.

We played in the water fountains some more, and packed up our camp.  There was a nice Buddhist temple in the area with a huge bell and koi ponds and all sorts of other cool things.  Turns out we forgot to bring the address.

Then we got to the gate and found out that THEY forgot to tell us that the gates didn’t open until 9, so we had a good half hour to drive around and look at all of the gardens and 1900s charcoal kilns before we could leave. Icie liked the walking trees. 

Pretty much everyone fell asleep on the way home. Then when we did get back, this happened.  He never sleeps more than once a day!

Yep, this trip was a success.  We want to do it again sometime.