Maybe not the worst camping trip ever....

but it is one that will live our memories for a long time.

Things started off pretty well. Wed and Thurs of last week I spent packing, planning, shopping and cleaning the house. Thursday evening I packed the van minus last minute stuff and got to bed fairly early. Friday I woke up early, dressed, finished packing the van and got the kids up dressed and gave them a bum rush out the door before they could destroy the house as I had left word with the realtor it was free to show at will.

The drive down to the St. Louis area was long but really uneventful, though I was wondering just where the heck the park was as I got close, because it took forever for signs to show on the road. We arrived, scoped things out and picked out a camping spot and I started setting up the tent. This is where things started going downhill quick. We didn't bring our trusty old cabin tent we've been using for the last 10+ years, we brought along a new one that was borrowed from a friend. He had insisted we borrow it when we were telling tales of our last stay in the tent with it's leaks and busted door zipper. Since it was there we used it. Now let me tell you this tent was very nice and new, if it had ever actually been used you couldn't tell it because it was just spotless. I opened the bag and the instructions were so vague they might as well I have been written in Russian ( I might would have some hope then) so Sonny Boy and I start trying to assemble this tent. This wasn't a one woman, one six year old operation I soon discovered. However with much cussing, sweating (the heat is another paragraph) and re-doing we soon had this MASSIVE tent erected. I sat down to drink a soda and admire my hard work and soon we could hear thunder in the distance. OH NO is all I could think because even though I had the tent up I did not have the rain fly on and the top of the tent was solid mesh. I start running around stretching out the rain fly and reading and re-reading the terrible instructions that kept telling me to put a pole through the sleeve on the rain fly except I could find no sleeve! Thunder still rumbling in the distance I decide to just pull the rain fly over the tent and hope that it shed the approaching thunderstorm, however I couldn't do this as one person and Sonny Boy no matter how hard he tried (and he tried) needed six more inches of height to be useful. I then re stretched out the fly, re-read the directions for the 101st time and finally found the sleeve to put the pole through. With the pole in the correct place it helped me stretch the fly over the tent and I could then secure it. About the time I finally got things rain proof the thunder started fading and the storm went around us.

Hubby showed around suppertime and after roaming around the park - the signage to the campground is not good, found us. We cooked some burgers on the fire, ate and Hubby took the boys to shower which was an adventure he would have to relate and put the kids to bed. Now mind you our little Wisconsin temperature adjusted bodies think 85 is hot and it's somewhere in the mid 80's with a high humidity. The kids are restless and after an hour or more of threatening death they finally settled and went to sleep. We sat around and watched the firewood smolder and listened to the trailer trash a couple of campsites over fight and cuss so we informed the park ranger and soon another thunderstorm started blowing up again. We hustled got things under cover and ducked into the tent and zipped it up. GEEZ it was hot in that tent. About the time I managed to doze off the storm ended and the couple in the site right next to ours came out of hiding with their child who was somewhere in the three year old range around 11:30 pm. Matthew ( I heard his name a hundred times or more over the weekend) proceeded to follow his dad around calling to him "Daddy" about every 90 seconds in the loud voice only a toddler can muster until at least 2:00 am. Not once did I hear the people tell the kid to pipe down. Eventually we got some sleep but it was bad and of course the kids woke up with birds in the am.

The next morning we rise and eat and talk Sonny Boy into taking a hike before swimming. We go on a fairly long hike and return to the campsite to eat lunch and hopefully a nap. As we are eating Matthew's mother finally arises from bed and yells at her husband from the tent "What time is it?" It was 1:30 pm. We get the kids to lie down for a while, Igor falls to sleep and we doze in the heat. Sonny Boy was as patient as an almost 6 year old can be but soon we had to get ready for the swimming hole. We greased the kids down with sunscreen, donned our swimsuits and as we are loading in the van another thunderstorm blows up. Quite a doozy this time with a lot thunder and lightening so we drove into town and bought ice cream while we waited it out. It soon blew over and we were able to take the kids to the beach.

The evening was rather uneventful with the exception of a marauding raccoon that tried to raid our campsite while we were still sitting around the fire. I chased him off and warned Mathew's parents that I had sent a raccoon their direction. We soon went to bed and remarked at how quiet Mathew's family was tonight. We soon realized though that they had left and were now returning to a campground that had been raided by raccoons. I even heard the dad exclaim " The dang things even ate my Skoal!" Hubby and were snickering so hard we couldn't stand it.

Sunday morning we awoke and managed to drag the tent across the campground road to a sunny site to allow it to dry out. Luckily it was HOT and this happened quickly. Hubby helped me pack the tent away and took the boys swimming while I finished breaking camp and packing. Hubby and the boys returned and we all hit the shower house in preparation for the long drive home. We stopped in town, ate pizza with Hubby and hit the road. I figured the first few hours of drive would be pleasant, kids were tired, clean, cooled off after being broiled for two days, and fed. Boy was I wrong. Sonny boy promptly fell asleep, but not Igor. Igor took his time strapped in the car seat to mutilate his new glasses and scream at the top of his lungs randomly for 300 miles. IT WAS A VERY LONG DRIVE HOME.

We survived the trip, however I somehow think I will either have to be drunk to get me to agree to another camping trip without another adult along for the entire ride or have some sort of brain injury that erases this from memory.

A few pictures: There was a big smudge on the camera lens we didn't discover until the end of the trip, hence the greasy spot in ALL the pictures.

Igor thinks his sand toy basket is a backpack.
Mississippi River bridge at Louisiana, Missouri - scary bridge very narrow and high.

This is what Illinois looks like, the only difference is the height of the corn as you move north to south.


Sonny Boy, one of the few times he's quiet.

Igor in between screams - It's hard to take pics directly behind you while you drive.

The view from the backseat.

I should have taken a picture of the mountain very dirty, wet, smelly laundry I did the next day too.