Abigail’s Birthday Camping Trip
Abigail turned 4 this last weekend so we decided to go off camping at Leo Carillo, a place I’ve visiting with my family since before I can rmember. This also happened to be Father’s Day weekend so we had several of my siblings and my parents along for a real family experience. I’m going to drag this description on for a while so the smart fellow will stop reading now.
Kerri planned and pulled together everything for our own family, from securing the camp site to preparing the food, packing, etc. The only thing I had to do was pack the truck and get ready on time. Of course, I was 45 minutes late. But no matter, we were still the first ones to arrive and somehow got in early (by just a few minutes).
After 30+ years of camping at “Leo” I know most of the camp sites so when we checked in I chose a location right next to the tiny camp store. It turns out that it was a bad one, having a huge propane tank in the back third of the tenting area. So I went back to choose another. My next choice was kick-ass! But it was still occupied by the folks from the previous night so we had to wait a few minutes for them to leave. As soon as the prior tenants left we pulled right in and began unpacking. About five minutes later another family pulled up and informed me that we were in their spot. What!?! The driver held out his ticket with camp site #15 listed and reiterated, “you’re in my site!”. I calmly walked over to my truck and yanked the sticker from my window which also had a 15 on it. And I was lucky enough to already be parked in the #15 spot (possession being 9 tenths and all). He ended up being very cool, a typical Leo camper. I offered to flip a coin for the spot but in the end we decided to let Ranger Bill settle the matter so no one would get their feelings hurt. I ended up in the spot with them just across the way and a promise that their kids could come play on our trees.
After a bit of time folks started filtering in. First was brother Pat and his family (Rana, Emma and Megan), then Mom, then Dad, brother Joe’s family (Leigh Ann, Caroline and Kevin), Brother John’s family (Cindy and Julia (other kids not present)) and finally sister Molly with boyfriend Matt. We ate lunch and packed up for a trip down to the beach. Mom and Dad stayed behind to enjoy the quiet of the camp site for a few minutes and met us at the beach a bit later. But some heavy shit went down a bit later, stuff that Rana warned about while us boys made fun of her — Shame on us cuz she was right. More later…
We had a good time at the beach. But remember when you were a kid and could play in freezing water all day and not feel it at all? I no longer possess that ability. The location we chose, as beautiful as it was, can be very dangerous for little ones because it has a fairly deep slope into the water, causing a bit of a natural rip tide. So when the kids wanted to get wet, Kerri or I was getting wet and we got pretty darn cold.
Eventually we packed up and headed back to the camp ground to start the fire and get warm. Now remember the warnings Rana handed out before we left and how us boys laughed a bit at her? Well, the damn squirrels got into our tents and ate just a tiny bit of all our celebratory food (cupcakes with candles for Abby, etc.). And (get this dawg) they crapped in my tent! They ate my food and pooped in my tent! Rana was very gracious but I gotta think that some part of her had a gigantic “I told you so!” being furiously restrained. More…
When I was growing up and camping at Leo the big problem was the wasps (we called this flavor Yellow Jackets). Curiously there were no measurable level of wasps this time. But we never had a problem with squirrels as I recall and my Mom concurs. There’s definitely been an infestation switch-a-roo. We had our tent zipped up tight and I still don’t know how they got in/out, unless the zipped things up on their way out. Who knows. All I know is, we had no cupcakes or doughnuts and a bunch of little turds to clean up. But we were camping and I was in jellyfish mode so no big deal.
We proceeded to have a nice fire and lots of good conversation. The kids explored a bit though closely. They’re still too young to be going off on expeditions like we did long ago (but I’m so looking forward to those days). As the night wore on Pat packed up, then Joe, then Dad and eventually Mom. John’s family and the Molly / Matt combo spent the night. We hung out until the wee hours talking about life, politics and jabbing each other all along the way. It was all very fun.
The morning came earlier than I would have liked but there’s just no stopping the kids from waking up when they do. Molly and Matt had to leave just after breakfast but we and John’s family made it to the beach again for the day. It was windy and cold though not a cloud in the sky. In my typical, non-thinking fasion, I failed to put on sunscreen so I now look I have a white tank-top on all the time.
The last bit I’ll remark about is this crazy umbrella thing. John and Cindy put up an umbrella to block some of the sun. But like I said, it was windy. We got into some conversation and were watching the kids down on the sand so no one realized that the bloody wind swept their umbrella away. At some point we noticed but after a long walk along the beach, they could not find it. That sucker plain blew away! Someone must have swiped it down the beach. Or perhaps it landed on somebody’s towel and they got all mad and burned it. Who knows. That sucker was gone.
So this marked Abby’s 4th birthday and Ben’s first camping trip. It was exhausting but the smiles on the kids faces makes it all worthwhile — that and the fact that Kerri did all of the work this time. Thanks honey!
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