Lots of Fun!

We had a great time on our recent camping trip! I had made the reservations in March, and as the time got closer, I wondered if I should cancel them. If you don't cancel at least three days out, you lose one night's fee. Since we were only staying one night, that kind of put a kink in things, for us! But I decided that it was work risking $35 for a chance to make some memories with the kids. We weren't sure, up until a few hours before we left, whether or not we would be able to go. Mark had to go into the hospital on Saturday night. I didn't know, until Jason brought him home at 4 a.m., whether he would be released or whether he would be transferred up to OHSU again. Even if he WAS released, would he be able to go??? Well, he was determined that he wanted to make this trip happen. He slept a few hours while I finished packing up the van. Then at noon we left.

We stopped on the way for a scrumptious Father's Day BBQ at my parents' house. Mary and Nate and Mark and Joellen were there, and we laughed so hard around the table. Something about red tides and blue moons ... Don't ask! :) Anyway, the kids were eager to get on the road so about 3:00, we said our farewells. Dad slipped me a twenty and told me to "do something fun" while we were down there. Okay!

We got to our campsite about 6:00. Mark was already exhausted. Well, he had been pretty much dragging the whole day, and by evening he was clearly beat. But I was tell he was trying really hard to stay "up" for the kids. We roasted hot dogs and made s'mores. Then we went into the yurt and tried to play UNO, but Mark (who was laying down by then) kept teasing Alex, which Alex, of course, "had" to respond to with repeated pillow beatings ... Kaitlyn and I finally gave up on the game. The boys gave up on "beating up" their father when I suggested we roast more marshmallows! (To me, THAT is the definition of camping. If you don't have roasted marshmallows, the camping excursions is not quite authentic!)

Everyone went to sleep pretty easily, but early in the morning, Brendan was up, begging for the donuts he had been anticipating for days. I let him have his and tried to get a little more sleep, but ... well, we had a problem. See, there were five of us and SIX packages of donuts. Letting extra donuts lie just does NOT work for Brendan. He kept coming over and asking me if he could have the extra donuts--over and over and over--until I had to hold myself back from sitting up and wringing his neck. I finally decided that we would all be better off if I gave up on the idea of sleeping and instead asked Mark to bring me a cup of the coffee he had already brewed over the fire. Once I had some caffeine in me, I felt much more civil (and Brendan seemed much cuter. Funny how that works!)

After breakfast, we packed up and set out for Seaside. The kids rode the carousel at the mall, then we looked around a bit. Lunch at a nice little cafe preceded a ride on the bumper cars. THAT was a hoot! It gave me a (short-lived) headache, but ... oh, well! Who said kids should have all the fun! Then we went down to the beach, waded in the surf, flew (or rather, tried to fly) the kite ... Then, homeward! and, of course, the obligatory stop at Dairy Queen on the way ...
I was nervous about Mark, afraid he would get really sick from the exertion. And he DID clearly push himself quite hard. He slept for most of yesterday and today. But he didn't end up in the hospital. Yea! All around, it was a pretty darn good weekend.