I'm too tired. Day One.

I feel like I should blog, but darn it - I am just tired.

WHY? Did I hear you ask that? No, I heard it. Subliminally.

You've really asked for it now.

I just spent Day One of Cub Scout Summer Camp with 440 BOYS. Little boys. 12 of them were entrusted to my care. Does anyone out there realize that I have ONE child, and there is a VALID REASON why?!!? Does anyone really give a sh*t?! Nope. It was flippin' hot today, in the sun. In the shade (where we WEREN'T), there was a nice breeze. And the forest, get this, is NOT bug-proof. Go figure. Nature sucks. Oh, I don't really mean that - get over it.

This is my 3rd year of being a "Den Escort" for my son's cub scout den at Camp. I do actually enjoy it for the most part, but it also means a LOT of walking, standing, yelling (I mean "speaking authoritatively"), and counting. Counting heads to make sure no one is missing. Counting beads that they earn for every.darn.activity. Counting the number of cars that have blocked me in in the "volunteer" parking lot. I should "volunteer" to remove some people's keys from their pockets so I can LEAVE!

Unfortunately, Pal's best buddy was assigned to the other group that we share a cabin with (this is only day camp, but everyone gets assigned to an area so we can have a home-base, so to speak). Upon hearing that Pal's buddy wasn't in our group, I fully expected the ultimate melt-down. Which surprisingly, didn't come. Wow! I guess having the buddy to ride home with every day was enough to keep him from melting. I even allowed buddy to stay when we got home, and that was the ultimate benefit!

This is the first year that Pal will be allowed to travel off-site to another Boy Scout reservation. He also gets to shoot BB's and learn archery. The highlight for Pal is usually the Frog Pond, where he can get covered in inches of green slime while looking for a HUGE frog. This is my favorite picture from last year's frog adventure - not because of the green "water" behind him, but because he is just SO happy, and it shows in his smile.



And this was one of the many HUGE frogs they caught last year:



I guess I will stop whining now, and go to bed so I can be refreshed for Day Two.

G

Camping...like it or not?

We are going camping this coming weekend with some friends of ours and their family. It's actually Pal's best buddy and his parents and little sister and little brother. Yes - the same people whose house the police had to come to looking for the "victim" (see older post "Good Cop, Bad Cop").

I am NOT a camper. Let's get that straight. I have been camping for 17 years now, but in a camper something like this one:




This is MY idea of camping. I have air conditioning, heat, full bathroom, microwave, queen sized bed, a screened in porch, and a beach on a lake that is a short foot path away from our site. When my husband and I were very first dating, which was the early Spring of 1991, he asked me if I like to camp. "Uh, NO." was my immediate answer. I don't DO bugs. I don't DO tents. But I did it for him. We started out with a tiny trailer that someone had given him in lieu of payment for electrical work! And because we camped with his sister and another mutual friend of ours (who are now married, to each other, and have 2 little boys!), we couldn't ALL sleep inside the tiny camper. So, we bought a huge tent and a huge air mattress, and we alternated weekends sleeping inside or outside. All for love. Yikes.

Now, here we are 17 years later, and we are renting THIS (or something like it) for the weekend:




And it's supposed to rain.all.weekend. Shoot me now! It should be fun, and all kidding aside, I am actually looking forward to it. After the weekend is over and we see how Mother Nature and her friend New England have treated those of us stuck in a pop-up for 3 nights.....stay tuned.....this could get ugly.