Camping (Post not intended for those with weak stomachs)

Not really CAMPING, but we got really close. The neighbors have an annual camp-out every year. The whole neighborhood is invited to pitch a tent, bring snacks, enjoy a bonfire, and eat donuts in the morning. I figured I could tough it out for one night, as my bathroom, toothbrush, and refrigerator were, like 10 yards away.
So I pitched the tent, bought stuff for pudgie pies, scrounged up sleeping bags. Howie even joined us for a while. I seriously considered putting the tent up in our yard and sleeping on the couch with the windows open so I could hear the boys, but decided against it.



Here is the view from H's window into tent city. It was dark by the time everyone set up, so I couldn't get a picture of it all but I think there were about 12 tents and 40 people.


Here's a picture of Howie and E by the campfire with Howie actually smiling and not making a stupid face. What a rarity.


A picture of M before all hell broke loose.

So we started about 7pm. Everyone ate dinner before hand, but brought typical camp out fare to snack on. Chips and dip, brownies, S'mores, pop, aformentioned cherry pudgie pies, goldfish crackers, pretzels, whatever.

I DID NOT POLICE HOW MUCH MY KIDS ATE.

Usually I'm sort of good about it.

I think in the end M ate about 6 S'mores, 2 Root Beers, 2 Capri Suns, Chex Mix, 2 Cherry Pies, A gallon of dip with chips, and various marshmallows that weren't attached to graham crackers or chocolate.

At 11:30 we called lights out.

At 11:32 M looked up at me from his sleeping bag and said "Mom, I feel like I'm going to puke". Which he did. All over me, him, his sleeping bag, pillow, sister and webkinz.

In those two minutes Howie had managed to sneak off to a neighbor's house with a bunch of dads who weren't camping. So it was just me, with the puke, E who was sleeping, M who was sick, and H who was ticked because his brother ruined his camp-out. I was trying really hard NOT to alert the other 36 people camping to our dilemma, but needed one of the other dads to go get Howie, which woke up all the tents on our side of the lawn. In the meantime M got sick again ( which solidified my decision to pitch the air mattress ), I got E home to bed, M in the bathtub and H in another tent so he would quit throwing a hissy fit. Howie got back just in time for the clean up. Do you know the logistics of getting a vomit soaked mattress through the opening of a very tiny tent? It can't be done. So I had to crawl on top of the thing and feel around in the dark for the air release valve, which of course was in the middle of the mess. We then took the tent down and folded it so nothing got on the neighbor's lawn. We drug the whole thing back to our driveway, where it sat til this morning and I could deal with it all in daylight.

We won't be camping again for a very long time.

Happy Father's Day