Camping....Days 2, 3, and 4

2nd Day:
G10 (at 8:30 a.m.) What time are we going swimming?
Me 4:00
G10 (at 8:45 a.m.) What time are we going swimming?
Me 4:00
G10 (at 9:00 a.m.) What time are we going swimming?
Me I will not scream, I will not scream, I…
B9 I only had 2 s’mores last night…can I have 4 tonight?
G2 Scream…loud
G7 She wants my Leapster but I’m playing with it
B9 Grandma there’s a huge spider in the bathroom. No kidding. Huge. It has 4 legs and everything.
Me Spiders have 8 legs, not 4, so that was probably something else.
B9 Nope, it was a spider for real. And it hopped everywhere.
Me Spiders do not hop, grasshoppers hop.

We decide to make a quick trip to WalMart since my Birkenstocks are rubbing a blister on B9’s toe and his tennis shoes are still wet and sure don’t need to be making the trip to the beach. Besides we need more eggs, because who knew they would all want scrambled eggs, after their chocolate donuts and chocolate Pot Tarts? And we need more drinks, because who knew they could drink that much in one day? They all four want to ride on the cart and can’t understand why when I try to push it the darn thing won’t budge. We find water socks/shoes for B9 after trying on several pairs just in case the others felt better and yes he knew they were all the same size. One wants apple juice, one wants CapriSun cherry, one wants CapriSun grape and one, thank goodness for that one, will drink anything. B9 also wanted to pick out the eggs - he carefully checked three cartons before one satisfied him. Four children, when together in WalMart, do not understand the concept of walking behind each other so others can get around you - they walk in a wad, a closely compacted wad that takes up the whole aisle. Finally, as the WalMart employees cheered, we left.

They ride bikes, they swim, they color all the railroad ties around the campsite with sidewalk chalk, they put together a jigsaw puzzle, they watch a movie, but mostly they eat. G10 meets a friend and the girls all go bike riding. G7, who still has training wheels, gets left behind. She stoically returns to the camper, goes inside, and spends time alone. Eventually she comes out and refuses to ride her bike ever again in this lifetime. When G10 asks G7 to borrow her notebook to write on G7 gets a totally blank look on her face and says, "What notebook?" G10 describes the notebook, everything in it, and where it is. G7 is adamant that she has no such notebook. I think that's called payback. B9, who doesn’t like girls, for some reason refuses to ride bikes with the friend he met and instead hangs out at our camp with G10 and her cute new friend. Hmmmm.
I took 18 pictures. We want to remember everything.

3rd Day:
Grandpa, bless his heart, takes them swimming twice. Except for G2 who has refused to go swimming since the first day. She does not want to go swimming. She does not want to wear a bathing suit. She wants to watch Barney. Thank goodness for Barney.

Upon their return from swimming:
G10 Did she have many poopy diapers while we were gone?
Me Huh? You would want to know this why? Do you want someone asking you if you pooped much today? Ok, I’ve lost it. I haven’t discussed poop since my own kids were little and that was at least a hundred years ago.

The big three get bored. I explain ever so sweetly that if you are bored that means you aren’t using your brain. “Figure something out!” They ride bikes, they swim, they watch a movie, they play with those awful game things that make weird noises. We make s’mores. B9 eats three plus a piece of chocolate. And immediately asks if he can go in the camper now because he doesn’t feel so good. “NO! If you’re going to throw up do it out here on the dirt! Not in my camper!” He’s offended but I’m past caring. I take 3 pictures. We want to remember everything.

4th day:
We are going home! I’m still alive! I haven’t had makeup on in three days and haven’t combed my hair in two but who cares! I’m going home! As they leave my car to get in their parents’ car G7 sweetly asks, “Grandma, when are we going to do this again? Can we go next week?