Camping Part 3

A delightful breakfast of Berry Cap’n Crunch and Go-Gurt was served to the kids while Chet built a $42 fire for our eggs and bacon. It was during this time that Ruby had a personal tragedy happen to her; one of her red berries fell from her spoon onto the ground. All of Schroeder, Tofte and surrounding areas, including three state parks, were made known of this travesty. I heard through the grapevine that the Temperance River even stopped flowing for a few moments. The worst part was, she couldn’t reach the berry from where she was sitting. It would have required her to get off the bench and bend over and pick it up. I tried to comfort her and I told her that it was yucky. I then pointed out all the beautiful untarnished berries that were left in her bowl. She was not comforted by this at all. While Henry shoveled spoonful after spoonful of Berry Cap’n Crunch into his mouth at a high rate of speed next to her, she wailed and wailed. He also dropped a berry, but it didn’t affect him the same way it did to Ruby. In fact, I thought he was rather grown up about the whole situation. He just looked at it and then continued to eat. 

I chalked up her behavior to being over-tired, despite her not making a peep over night and we somehow got the crisis settled and peace was restored across the land. Then Chet made the mistake of removing the bike trailer from his bike, as he planned to take off to scope out the fishing spots along the river. To Ruby, this translated to her never being able to go for a bike ride ever again in her entire life and we couldn’t explain it to her in any way that seemed to please her. 

When this type of behavior happens at home, a reset is usually required. The child is over stimulated and requires a little time-out in their room. All I have to do with Ruby is to point to her room and she stomps her feet with each step, all the way there. It’s quite funny to watch. It’s not just one or two stomps; it’s sometimes 15 or 20 or 50 depending on how far away she is. Then she gets in her room and slams the door so hard, those who aren’t used to this behavior usually run for cover. But then she will usually emerge a few minutes later with a smile on her face and all is well.

It’s tough to do that in a campground. At 7:07am. With neighbors 4 feet away. I carried her to the Suburban and put her in her seat. A few minutes of alone time and she was good to go again. Thank you, Suburban, for whatever you did to make her be quiet. I owe ya.

We all headed down to the river on our bikes for a picnic lunch. Chet determined earlier in the day that this trail was bike friendly and I determined while we were on it that it was not. Unless you have a 4 wheel drive bike, that is. But we made it somehow without falling off the cliffs.

It is absolutely lovely here. The water seems like it is higher this year but there were plenty of wading areas for the kids to play in. They searched for agates and Willow slept peacefully in her car seat. I watched as my kids worked together to dig personal wading pools, compare rocks, carry buckets of water and encourage each other to go explore a little further. It’s amazing what a stack of plastic cups and a few sand toys will do to keep kids busy. Every few minutes, I would do a head count. One, two, three, four, five, six, seven. Just like our neighbor lady probably did when we first arrived at our camp site. 

Later in the afternoon, we headed to the beach. Ruby had thrown a fit prior to our beach hike about something quite important and she was looking worn out. She laid her towel out on the beach and snuggled in. I was hoping she would fall asleep but she didn’t.

The kids spent a good hour or two playing in the waves, agate hunting and climbing on the rocks. I noticed a few campsites tucked in behind the beach and I made a mental note to try and book those ones next time. Lamb’s has quite a few sites right on the lake but they all looked pretty cliffy to me and not toddler-friendly. Besides, I much prefer the sound of the highway and the view of the dump that we were so lucky to have at our site.

The toddlers were quite exhausted so we decided to send Chet and the four oldest on a trip to Temperance River State Park while I drove around with the toddlers in hopes that they would fall asleep.

I dropped these kids off at the entrance to the park and I drove up and down the highway. Henry fell asleep right away which was nice but he wasn't the problem. I really hoped Ruby would have fallen asleep too. This did not happen. What did happen was that once she realized we dropped off Chet and the kids, she became upset. And by upset, I a mean loud, screaming, kicking type of upset. It accomplished the exact opposite that I had intended. And it also woke up Henry, so that was an added bonus.

The kids had fun on their little hike and I’m glad they got to see it. I went there once before and I didn’t want to bring my toddlers there due to the lack of safety features such as railings on cliff edges. Chet, being the Safety Bear that he is, actually did not mind this and I heard from my children that he actually picked them up and held them over the edge so they could see better. All of them thought this was great except for Milo.

We got back to camp in time for supper. Chet fussed with Willow and while I made a gourmet meal of canned chili over an $18 fire, Tucker walked up to me.

“I can't find my glasses.” he said.

To be continued...