Camping…

I don't know if I've said this before, but I am not what you would call "Outdoorsy". I admit it, I feel no shame. When I was a kid when we spent summers in West Virginia on my aunt's farm you were more likely to find me inside reading a book than outside playing in the dirt. I used to be afraid of flies, and I remember spending hours killing flies on the front porch. The fact that the farm was in the hills of West Virginia and that flies do quite a bit of breeding there didn't deter me.

I did float down the creek on old tires with my cousins and siblings, although I tried my hardest to not actually get in the creek. I still feel the same about lakes and rivers and creeks. I like to think of myself as a swimming pool type of girl, I like to be able to see what is around me in the water.

That being said, the kiddos and I went out to Roman Nose State Park with my sisters and their families on Saturday. Josh had a medical procedure on Friday that prohibited him from participating in this fun filled trip. Here's what I learned this weekend…

• The girl with the least amount of camping equipment will be in charge of chips and baked goods.
  
• Even if I had a camping box, I don't own a car big enough to transport it.
  
• A task like gathering fire wood will keep kids occupied for a long time.
  
• If you sit close to the fire because it's freezing, you run the risk of getting burn holes in your fleece jacket.
  
• My family has never heard of Ivy Block. (This was a HUGE shock, as they are all expert campers.)
  
• When it's cold out there are less granddaddy longlegs on the outside of the tent.
  
• The air inside your air mattress gets really cold when it's in the 40s.
  
• Temps in the 40s and 50s might be perfect running temps, but they are not perfect sleeping in a tent temps.
  
• When you camp in October it's always better to over pack.
  
• That half bottle of wine will make you need to pee at about 3am.
  
• Just because you sleep in a tent with 4 girls between the ages of six and twelve doesn't mean you will have someone to go to the bathroom with at 3am.
  
• With eleven kids, the sleeping arrangements will change atleast 30 times between the time you set up the tents and actually go to bed.
  
• It is possible to get to the end of A Hundred Bottles of Beer on the Wall.
  

In all it was a great trip. The kids had a great time, and I'd like to think that this is one of those trips that they will always remember. We did take them fishing on Sunday after we had packed up our camp. You have never heard kids whine so much. We had four kids that fished and seven that complained almost the whole time.

I can't wait until next time.