camping, city style
every year a group of moms go camping to a beautiful little campground on lake whaley just outside of pawling, ny for a few days. we do camp in tents, use a campfire to cook hot dogs and kebabs and i even made some dutch oven peach cobbler for everyone, but that's as hard core as it gets at camp liahona. showers, bathrooms and refrigerators are involved, as are trips to the grocery store (10 minutes away) to restock the marshmallows. our five man tent was filled with our queen-sized aerobed mattress (that i used an adapter in my car to fill up) complete with sheets and quilt, and a pak-n-play for ruth.
this year, since the trip fell near the 4th of july, chip was able to come up and spend almost the entire time with us. so great. he put the girls down and fell asleep right alongside them each night, while i was able to inhale smoke around the campfire and watch stars with good friends.
i hardly took any pictures at all, which means that i was either too lazy or having too much fun. i choose having too much fun. the beautiful two hour canoe ride we took with the girls all around lake whaley, looking at homes, ducks, some fish and even a muskrat (gross) is not documented. neither is the fact that they were both sound asleep by the end of it. i'll have to rely on the kindness of friends to send me some pictures of the girls fearlessly swimming in the lake for hours on tuesday. this is a tangent, but the girls are awesome little swimmers. ruth is amazing at kicking and holding her breath. she's also surprisingly good at trying to get herself to air when the water goes above her head. never scared and always willing to go back for more practice. with floaties on eve, we'd swim eve out to the dock and practice jumping into the lake. she'd go all by herself, refusing any help or joint-jumping. down she'd go, pop right up, spit out some lake water and kick herself close enough to be pulled up again for the next jump. it wasn't until she got the idea that sharks were in the lake that she got a little nervous. unwilling to accept that they did not live in the lake, it was decided that they were asleep. with the sharks safely tucked in bed, eve kept on swimming all around like a little mermaid. i also missed, yet again, a chance to document chip being the sea monster. every year he pulls this out and every year he gets enough of a response from the kids to keep him going. happily, alysha got a shot of it, so check it out over here. the stuff is just as smelly as it looks. i also missed the running and playing with friends, the staring at the caught frog, the sneaking into others' tents and the amazement of hearing an owl in the night.
i did, however, have the camera out just long enough to get some shots of ruthie, who has been sadly neglected here lately.
we went home still terrified of bugs and hating s'mores (eve), more attached to our bink than ever (ruth), determined to make a better cobbler next year (me) and wanting a nice, long nap (chip), and all just a little sick. but we still love camp liahona and, as always, were glad to get a little of the quiet that comes with it.
and for the fourth of july fireworks we were back in brooklyn, sound asleep. like good americans.
Thursday, July 5, 2007 at 02:29PM
Reader Comments (6)
ok, that first picture of Ruth, sitting on the grass in the red jacket, I could have sworn that was Eve! She is getting so big. HURRAH for a successful camping trip!!
ok, that first picture of Ruth, sitting on the grass in the red jacket, I could have sworn that was Eve! She is getting so big. HURRAH for a successful camping trip!!
Ahh! Camp Liahona. So many memories. Was this the RS camping trip? We used to go to Bear Mountain (or something) for that when I was around.
Sounds like fun. I am glad that you all had a safe, happy 4th of July.
I loved camping at Camp Liahona with the ladies of Brooklyn. What a great time and such a beautiful place. I am so glad it is a tradition that has continued.
really i don't know how my comment got in there twice, I wasn't having any problems with it!? I am not really a dork.
oh my gosh, ruthie is so, so cute. actually, she looks just like me in that first pic. ha. (btw, i'm flipping my hair back and forth while i type.)
man, camping looks fun.