"Forgetful Jones" Rides Again...

Well, last night, my family decided to go on a little camping adventure to Champoeg State Park. We got a very late start on our trip since my husband didn't get home from work until about 5:30 or so. After loading up the car, we got to the campsite at about 7:15 or so. We didn't even start dinner until it was dark! It seems like this trip was almost more trouble than it was worth, but the kids sure had fun. I'll be posting some pictures when I get around to pulling them off of the camera.

Does anybody remember that old Sesame Street character named Forgetful Jones? I haven't seen him on any recent episodes, but I do recall him popping up every now and then on episodes back when I was a kid. ANYway, after last night's camping trip, that's who I felt like. I forgot to pack so many basic, OBVIOUS things, it was pathetic! For example, here are a few of the essentials that I forgot. Like, DUH!

1) Pillows (Mega owie on our necks. Note: Rolled up clothes do NOT make a good pillow.)
2) Blankets (Brrr... it was a little chilly)
3) A sleeping bag for Jasmine (we were gonna order one for her online earlier in the week, but forgot... so we were gonna zip the two big sleeping bags together. Didn't happen. See below for details.)
4) Flashlight (At least we had a propane lantern-- whew. But we still walked to the bathroom in the dark)
5) A spatula for the pancakes (Nix the pancakes for breakfast!)
6) A wooden spoon to stir the hash browns (We used a knife with a plastic handle instead.... some of the handle melted!)
7) Salt and pepper (Bland food is okay; just put lots of ketchup on it.)
8) Paper towels (With two kids, forgetting that is just uncalled for.)
9) Stuff to clean the dishes with, ie: bucket, washcloths, etc. (Woops!)
10) Hmm... I forgot what else we forgot. I'm sure there was something else. It'll come to me later.


Well, most of the stuff we had to just work our way around not having. I did drive back into town, 7 miles each way, to recover the much-needed cleaning supplies and even a carton of eggs. By the time I got back, everything was basically set up. We had our HUGE tent (fits 3) and our TEENY tent (fits 1/2 a person, or @1 Jasmine), plus our canopy with mesh sides. Jasmine REALLY wanted to sleep in the little tent, so we gave her a sleeping bag. That left one more sleeping bag, with no blankets or pillows, for Hubby, Tyler, and me. We decided that I would sleep with Ty in the big tent (so I could tend to his needs more easily), and Daddy would sleep with Jazz in the little tent. What a LONNNNNGGGGG night! I was so dang uncomfortable. My back and neck hurt very bad now. If we had some sort of mattress pad and a pillow, it would have been much better. I was able to squeeze into the sleeping bag with Ty, so at least I wasn't cold. Ty did wake up in the middle of the night, so I had to rock him. Jasmine hogged her sleeping bag for the first part of the night, but Daddy ended up squooshing into the sleeping bag with her. He's pretty sore today, too. We're both pretty tired. I think the kids got a pretty good night sleep, though.

After we woke up at like 6:00 this morning, everything else went pretty smoothly. We roasted marshmallows, sat around for a while, and just relaxed. Ty kept running away, following anyone that would pass our campsite! My arms are sore from hauling him around. When it was dark, I had to hold him while doing everything for fear that he would run off into the darkness. Jasmine was a big helper with him, trying to keep him close by. Although checkout time wasn't until 1:00, we were out of the camp area by 10:30 or so. We then drove over to the day-use area so my husband could play a round of disc golf. Ty was asleep by then, so I stayed in the car with him while Jasmine went with Daddy. We got home around 1:00.

Whew! Next time, I'll DEFINITELY make a list of everything we need to take with us. One of our main purposes for taking this little trip was to do a trial run for our family reunion that's in July. With all that we forgot, I'm just glad we were camping only one night. The family reunion will be for three nights. It was a lot of work, but the kids sure had fun. We might try going out again on Memorial Day weekend. We'll see.