Who knew kids like camping too?

Last weekend marked a new monument in our family.  Aside from being Father's Day, something special that has never happened before, happened.  It was something that was difficult for me to let happen, but something that ultimately turned out to be fantastic.

Corey took Bethany camping.  Alone.  Well, not totally alone, his boss organized a father/kids camping trip and Corey and Bethany attended.  The big thing is, Bethany has never gone anywhere over night without me.  She's never been camping period and it was a new experience for us all. 

See, the tarp doesn't look too bad.  Does it?

We had asked her about a month ago if she'd like to go camping with Daddy.  He had the papers and we needed to know if signing them up was a good thing, or if the idea of being away from home and mommy for a night was going to be too much.  She wanted to go and excited doesn't even begin to explain how she felt about it.  For the next 4 weeks everyday she could be heard asking her Dad (or anyone else who'd listen) "Tell me a story about camping please?  What will we do there?"  And tell her we did, until we were blue in the face and most times we'd end with "You'll have to wait and see I don't know what else" Mean while we were thinking "I can't tell you anything else about camping because my brain is burnt kinda like how a mashmellow gets fried after being in the fire too long and you'd know that because we've talk about everything and I have nothing else to say. breath I feel like a scratched cd stuck on the camping song, so ENOUGH ALREADY!"

Anyways, the day finally came and after spending all day packing and buying tarps (aside: Did you know there are like 30 billion kinds of tarps at Crappy Tire and that there is generally nobody useful there to tell a person what the right kind of tarp is?  And did you know that I know nothing about tarps but everything about being frugal so I bought the ones that seemed the best quality for a really good price?  And that might not have been the best idea?).  I was also getting Audrey ready for a sleepover at Grammy's because I was taking a very dear friend of mine out for a birthday dinner.

Having her special dinner treat.

Finally the time came for me to leave to drop AJ off and with mix feelings and the urge to cry I kissed my big girl goodbye.  She hugged me, she kissed me and then she took of to watch one final show before they had to go.  Corey smiled, said they'd be fine and that was it.

Dinner was good, but I must say I was distracted by the worry that something would be wrong.  I got the odd text saying things were fine but still I worried.  I've got that down to a science.  Anyways, I came home, to an empty house, which was another first.  It's been over 4 years since I've spent even one night completely alone anywhere.  And while being able to play my music loud and have a bath all by myself, was awesome.  I was kind of lonely.  I was also kinda bummed, I had stopped at Starbucks to buy myself an after dinner treat of a tea and a lemon loaf to have in the tub.  Being that clumsy is my middle name I dropped the loaf into the tub with me and ruined it.  I thought about drying it out....but didn't.

Morning came quickly and I was surprised my phone hadn't rung.  I called Corey and the news was fantastic, they'd had a blast!  Bethany hadn't even gone to bed until almost 10pm and had slept all night.  And not only that, in  my hurry to pack I forgot to include nighttime pull-ups and she slept all night, in panties and was Dry!!!! I asked Cor, how she'd done and he said, "The first thing she said when she woke up was, "Dad, can we stay another night?" (Um, No! Mommy can't take it.) and she made some awesome friends.  She loved playing with the kids..." 

I'm not so sure how I feel about this...but they sure did have fun playing together

Saturday was excellent because the company has also arranged for the rest of the families to come out and have a big group picnic at Kawkawa Lake in Hope.  Now if you know Hope, and I kinda do, you know that Kawkawa lake, while pretty has a reputation for these pests.  They are a protected species that I have to admit I don't think need to be quite so heavily protected, they are the great and the gross Canadian Geese.  They poop everywhere and it's disgusting, and Kawkawa lake beach was no exception.  Had I known in advance they'd planned to go there, I'd have probably discouraged it but alas I didn't so we dealt with it.

They might look pretty, but it's totally a disguise

It was a lovely afternoon, complete with a rainless thunderstorm and we had a blast.  It was nice to meet the people who Corey works with and to thank them for making him so happy.  This job is truly a blessing and so are the people.

After having about 5 gianourmous meltdowns we decided to head home, we changed two kidlets into their pj's because I knew they'd never make it home awake, and headed off.  Sure enough not even 15 minutes out of hope Audrey was out and 10 minutes later Bethany was out.  We got home, and the rest is routine.

It was so awesome seeing how happy Bethany was, but what took the cake for me was Corey's face.  It was parental bliss (and exhaustion) for him.  He's waited to start doing things like this with his girls and this was just the beginning.  I think there are already thoughts and plans for more trips brewing.  Which is fine with me, while I don't mind camping, I certainly do not feel left out getting to stay at home with a bathroom, and a shower and screens to keep out the mosquitos.

It was a lovely weekend and an even better adventure!  And I'm so glad they went.

Happy Weekend everyone!  What are you planning to do?  Is the sun shining where you are?