Sunday, June 27, 2010
Campout
This weekend was mostly taken up by a Cub Scout campout at Harmonie State Park, out near New Harmony. It was a relatively small pack event – only 6 or 8 families – but not small for us, because the entire family came along for the first time. We had lots of fun, tempered by some overtired moments, sunburn, and bug bites.
Friday was about half regular working day for me, gradually easing into packing the truck full of camping gear. The kids didn’t do any academic school work, but they did have a couple of friends over for a Mexican Fiesta, complete with homemade pinata, to cap off the study of Mexico they’ve been doing with mom. Around 4PM we headed out for the hour’s drive to the park, which turned out to be a large wooded chunk of acreage near the Wabash River.
First order of business was to set up tents (it takes two to hold us now), blow up air mattresses, and otherwise make camp. Our dinner was chicken, corn, and couscous, which I managed over the Coleman stove. There was plenty of running-around time for the kids, followed by bedding down later than usual.
As usual for me sleeping on an air mattress, I was up at 4AM Saturday and spent a bit of time on the computer making sure there were no serious client emergencies to deal with. The boys (who had a tent of their own) were up before 6, and rather than have them wake the whole camp, the three of us went on a mile-long hike after breakfast. Later that morning four families met up and did another mile-long nature hike, so they had plenty of walking.
Saturday’s highlight was time in the giant pool at the park. Kids all enjoyed it, and we tried to get their swimming improved a bit, so that some day they can get out of the shallow end. I managed to pick up some sunburn myself, but nothing too serious. Saturday night was group dinner and then skits around the campfire, followed by earlier bedtimes for tired-out kids.
I was up early again on Sunday, and thoroughly swarmed by biting insects before I could get the DEET on. We had breakfast and packed up, and were back home late in the morning. Most of the rest of the day was pretty low-key, though I did manage a bit of work. Dana made spaghetti and fruit for dinner, with Thomas’s help.