Cold Toes, But Melted Shoes

So last week, some of our dear friends, the Lawsons, came to visit us. You may remember them from our Disney Trip. They live near Fort Lauderdale--that's in south Florida, for all of you who have never left the Big Bend. Well I decided beforehand that it would be really great to show them a good time, allhisblessings-style. So what does that mean, you ask? Camping, of course!

They, coming from city-life, had never been camping as a family before, so I was a little worried that they'd say no thanks. But Steve and Michelle, being such good-natured friends, heartily agreed to go on this little adventure. And besides, it would only be one night, how bad could that be? Whoohoo! I was thrilled. I worked everything out ahead of time. I decided we should go to Torreya, because it's one of my favorite spots in the world, and it's only 45 minutes away. I logged on to the website, paid for a campsite, and began making my lists and plans. I checked the weather and prayed for no rain. I emailed Michelle twenty times and reminded her to bring the warmest clothes she had for everyone because the lows average in the 30s up here.

The big day finally arrived. We packed all our stuff on the trailer behind our car and in their van and hit the road. You would have thought we were moving in, we had so much stuff. But it takes a lot of stuff to keep 4 adults, 4 kids and 1 baby happy in the wilderness. Ooops, somebody forgot something....back up the train....okay now do we have everything? Okay! Let's go!

It was a beautiful day. We set up camp. The men did manly things like scratch and chop firewood.

The children immediately took to the woods like a pack of wolves. This was where they spent the majority of their time. We developed a call-back system to make sure they were still alive every once in a while. We'd yell "HEY!" and they had to yell "HEY" back at us. This worked pretty well for Noodle and Caleb, being older and more responsible. But with Hopers and Jacob, well, let's just say they don't listen even when standing right next to you. However, we did manage to keep up with ALL of the children. (I know, amazing!)

We also took a walk down to the Appalachicola river and the Gregory House. Here, we attempted to take family photos, but certain small people were less than cooperative. Hmm, see if you can guess who...

So, all was lovely and fun for the day. We enjoyed our warm chili for dinner and sat by a roaring campfire afterward. It was not long, however, before things took a turn for the worse. I decided to prepare the tent for bedtime--arranging the various mats, air mattresses, blankets, and sleeping bags. But while I was doing this, a strange sneezing fit came over me, and I began "achoo-ing" over and over until my head hurt. Okay, I thought, I do have a dust allergy, so maybe some of these blankets and things are the cause. And perhaps, that is how it began, but it isn't how it ended. Ohhhh no. My nose began a slow leak and my sinuses clogged up all the way to my toes. Not only that, but the weather had begun to get terribly cold (it neared 27 degrees), so everyone decided to snuggle down in the tent for the night. I fell asleep at first. The little space heater we brought was doing it's humble job of keeping us warm enough, but as the night progressed, the temperature dropped, and suddenly it wasn't so cozy anymore. Someone woke up to go to the bathroom. Someone else went to the bathroom. Everyone went to the bathroom (including Jacob, who peed directly on the ground in front of the tent door, and Seth, who promptly stepped in it with his socks). I was awake now, and completely unable to fall back asleep. My head felt like it was going to burst even though my nose was dripping like a faucet (how is that possible anyway??), and I was freezing. Seth and the girls were sleeping like logs, as were Caleb and Jacob. Even the baby seemed to be fine. Michelle and Steve, however, were tossing and turning, obviously too cold to get into a good, deep sleep. Finally around 3 am, Michelle and I decided to go warm up in the bathroom. "So," I said, wiping another drip from my now red honker, "are you having fun yet?"

"No," Michelle said, "but being in this bathroom is more fun than what I was doing in the tent!" We laughed at the rediculousness of the situation and took turns sitting on the bathroom space heater. "Why don't we just go start the fire? It'll be a lot warmer. Besides, I'm totally awake now," Michelle suggested.

So that's what we did. For the rest of the night (or was it morning?) we sat in our chairs by the fire and talked and dozed. At one point, Steve got up with the baby and brought him into the van to sleep. (I wonder what kind of gas mileage a mini-van gets in "idle" with the heat blasting for several hours.)

Around five o'clock, I was startled awake by a sudden burning sensation in my left foot. Ow, ow, OW! I'd fallen alseep with my feet too close to the fire, and the rubber in the bottom of my shoe had begun to heat through. Michelle did the exact same thing, only her shoe was not as fortunate. The sole detatched and deformed until it resembled something more like an alligator mouth than footwear. The upside is that she got to buy a new pair of Nikes when we got back to town.

And that's our camping trip in a nutshell. Great yet awful. Fun but not fun. I came down with a fever and chills the next night and had to miss singing at church Sunday morning. Spent the next week coughing and wheezing my way through life. All for camping! Yes. I love it. Crazy me. My dear friends even forgive me, I think. They claim they had a good time. And you know what? I'll be doing it again this weekend! That's right. I didn't learn my lesson. I'm going again. In December. How bad could it be, right?