To be honest, a couple of years ago was the first time we went camping with all 3 kids. We bought a tent, loaded up the van and off to the mountains we went. It could have been because I had just had my gallbladder out two weeks before. It could have been because my children don't understand that they need to wipe their feet before entering the tent. There could have been a lot of reasons, but I decided that I wasn't a camping fan. But, like any good marriage, Stephen and I talked it out and there were really only two things that really bugged me.
First of all, I don't like sleeping on the ground. I wake up achy and stiff and not the happiest of mommy's. Second of all, I really don't like dirt in my bed. With three kids running in and out of the tent, it was impossible to keep my bed clean and warm. What to do? We decided to buy a used pop-up tent trailer. We could tow it with the van and could keep all our stuff inside. All we would have to pack would be clothes and food...and off we would go. Last summer, we bought the pop-up right before Father's Day and camped up near Big Bear. We went beach camping a couple of times and had a great summer camping. This summer was supposed to be just as great.
In May, we went to the Mojave Narrows out in Victorville. Yeah, the desert. It's not supposed to be too hot in May...I checked the weather. I'm not one of those "crazy campers" that will camp anywhere at any time. No, it needs to be comfortable. That means flush toilets are a must. Showers are highly preferred, but not necessary at every campsite. There should be a water spicket close and no bears to deal with. That said...I looked up the Mojave Narrows online and it looked good. There were horses, fields of grazing horses, boats, a lake to fish in, and a park complete with a water park attached. It was going to be fun.
The week before we were set to go camping, a heat wave struck. Yep, 110 degree heat out in Victorville. I just knew I was gonna die. The kids were so darn excited that I couldn't tell them that "mom's a wuss and we're scrapping the camping for the weekend." No, we went anyways and brought a misting bottle and tons of water.
The camp looked just as nice as we drove in. It was grassy. There were 50+ horses and 3 camels! The playground looked so much fun and the water park looked like a blast for the kids. So...even in the heat, I thought we'd have a good time. When we pulled up to our campsite, there were ants. Not the few ants that most campsites have, but hundreds of huge red ants. There were 4-5 ant hills that housed those hundreds of thousands of red ants. They were everywhere. Boys love exploring. They loved exploring ant hills. I'm sure they didn't enjoy me yelling, "Don't go near those ant hills. They can bite you." The campsite was all full. There was nowhere else for us to go. Ahhh. It was shaping up to be a good weekend...
The next morning we lathered up in sunscreen and went to the park. People, there were three trees. Only three! We sat under a tree with another guy who brought 4 little boys to play at the park. Our kids ran off to play and we sat with our water getting ready to read our book. Before long, the guy next to us (about 28ish) started to cuss rather loudly at the boys he brought. Obviously he wasn't their dad...he was speaking horribly about their mama. He used words that we don't ever use. EVER! My eyes grew wide, my mouth dropped open and I just looked at Stephen. What were we supposed to do? There was no other shade at the park! I'm still not over the shock of that morning.
To sum it up, we had lunch, Twerp #1 and 3 went with Daddy in a peddle boat and Twerp #2 came with me. Genetics being what they are...Twerp #2 and I both got heat exhaustion and all red in the face. We went to the mall to cool off where I witnessed a man getting arrested at a cell phone kiosk in the middle of the mall. Yeah, this was a great place to choose to camp.
The thing that threw me over the wall was the train tracks that ran North and South about 200 yards from our campsite. The trains didn't just run until 10:00 or so...no, they ran all night long. Do you understand what I just said? ALL NIGHT LONG! Freight trains...trains with 100 or more cars (or caboodles as my kids call them) on them. We woke up every 25 minutes, all night long. (I think that if I say that enough, you'll understand that it really was all night long...) The website didn't say anything about trains. The park wouldn't get many visitors if they did though...
I was up like a banshee on Sunday morning. Hurry up and pack! We gotta get outta here before the ants wake up and the sun comes out! Hurry up, grab the chairs and crank down the pop-up. We'll eat on the road...no time to eat now. Yeah, we were home by 10:45 on Sunday morning. Not bad for a girl on the go.
See, it doesn't look so bad, right? I mean, this is a nice place when you first drive in the gates...
Here's a picture of Stephen...what a cutie, huh? Even with that awful hat.
Stephen with the kids just before we went on our Peddle Boat ride.
Twerp #1 playing at the water park. Hope we get a base tan soon...
Twerp #3 saying he's wet and cold from the water park. How can someone be cold in 110 degree heat?
Here is Twerp #2 just before we started out on our peddle boat ride. She's so excited and having fun. We rented our boats for a 1/2 hour tour...
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