Labor Day Camping

Scott and I have not taken a camping trip in well over a year. With all the wedding planning, we thought we would miss the opportunity this summer, but we were wrong. We took the long weekend as a chance to go on a short trip close to home. We invited Scott’s co-worker, Sebastian and his wife, Marianna, and their two boys, Santiago who is 3 and Matias who is 1 1/2. This was their first time camping in the US.

We arrived at the camp site on Friday evening just in time to drop the tent, supplier, and kids off, before Marianna and I went to Wal-Mart for food. By the time we got back it was 8:30, dark and quiet. The kids were already put to sleep so we couldn’t roast marshmallows with them. We cooked a small dinner and sat by the campfire, drinking beers. We headed to our tents for lights out… shortly after falling asleep, we heard crunch and gnawing outside of our tent. It stopped for a while and we fell back asleep. Suddenly loud growls were coming from our picnic area with more crunching and gnawing. I peeked out of our tent and shined the flashlight in that direction to see raccoons eating Bomber food. Crap, I forgot to put it away!!!! So for 30 minutes or so, we listened to crunching from the raccoon and growling if another raccoon tried to get some of his found treasure. It was right outside of the Helbig’s tent so we had to think of something so the boys would wake up. I grabbed my camera… took a picture to use the flash to scare the critters away. Fortunately that worked, unfortunately, it woke up Matias. So then we traded loud raccoons for a crying baby. The good thing was that Matias didn’t cry for too long.

After getting only other few hours of sleep, we were all up ready to start the day. We woke up, made some breakfast, cleaned the breakfast dished and then went for a walk. Santiago really wanted to go fishing for Scott and Sebastian headed into town for a fishing license. While they were gone, Marianna and I cooked the boys some lunch and put them down for their afternoon naps. After waiting for the husbands for over 3 hours, they came back just in time for Santi to wake up and head out for the lake. Marianna and I stayed back to wait for Matias to wake up and then met up with the guys later that afternoon. They fished for another hour or so and then we all headed back to camp. The boys wanted to play at the playground for a little bit so Marianna took them down the jungle gym. Back at the camp site, Scott, Sebastian, and I played Bid Euchre which I have not played since our Iowa City days.

When Marianna and the boys come back, we thought it would be a great idea to get in some showers. This would allow us to relax and enjoy the last evening. It is amazing how great it feels to be clean after a night and full day of camping. After cleaning ourselves up, we started cooking dinner for the boys so they can eat and then hit the hay. We started up the fire and roasted a couple marshmallows for the boys. We couldn’t have them go through their first camping trip without roasting some mallows. Afterwards, they were so tired that Santi asked to go to bed. (What kid ASKS to go to bed?)

As soon as it started getting dark, we started cooking dinner for the adults. We grilled everything on the campfire and sat around talking for the rest of the night. Before we went to bed this time around, I made sure that I put Bomber’s food in the car so the raccoons would bother us for a second night.

On Sunday, we all woke up early after a restful night’s sleep. We cooked some breakfast, cleaned the breakfast dishes and headed out for another walk. We came across another entrance to the lake that would have been better for fishing in comparison to where we were at the day before. Maybe next time!!!

Since the Helbig family had a great time camping, we will be doing it again.