This weekend was our first camping trip of the year. It rained. A whole lot the first day. I've never camped in conditions like it before, it was damp, cold and muddy and well, er, wet. My first thoughts were that it was a disaster, especially when there was a huge rainstorm in the middle of erecting our tent (I scooped out almost two buckets full of water that had got in before we managed to get the fly sheet up properly). But we soon realised the children weren't complaining and that to them the downpour was all part of the adventure.
It's amazing how viewing life from our childrens' eyes with a bit of tweaking expectations and going with the flow can make a huge difference isn't it? Day two was spent exploring the campsite, catching bugs and frogging at the river bank and squeals of delight when we almost caught a few!
Of course there were the ubiquitous s'mores around the campfire in the evening too. She's a big fan. Her top three best things about camping are "marshmallows, graham crackers and chocolate". Check out those finger nails!
Day three, the sun came out and there was a trip on the river in a canoe followed by a bit of swimming (ironically only the recently converted hydrophobe really wanted to venture into the murky cold water..) before heading home, tired and content, for hot baths and several loads of very muddy washing.
Apart from being eaten alive by mosquitoes, we had a very good time indeed.
