Party at the Lake

My in-laws decided to camp out at a lake near us this weekend.  They're avid campers and they thought this would be a good opportunity to give the children a chance to see what camping was like during the day as a first camping experience.  Since I have no camping experience other than the days of summer camps back when I was a child, it was a first for me as well.

We met them at their camp site this morning.  They had arrived yesterday, had set up camp and were ready for us when we got there.  My children liked their camping spot right by the lake; they went down to the shore and tested the water.  We did a small hike through the woods to get to a playground that also had a swimming area cordoned off.   That's when the first nakedness of the day happened...

My son saw the other children taking off their shoes and socks to wade in, so he began to do the same.  He had on jeans and I didn't want them to get wet so I took them off as well.  As he splashed around, Papa and I thought we might need to take the shirt off too and at that point my son decided underpants were overrated and just got naked.  We pondered the legality of nudity in the park and decided a three-year-old probably didn't qualify and we'd slide by.  

After some lunch there was some attempts at napping in when lots of sand got into Nana and Papa's sleeping tent and no naps were taken.  Naps were not taken in the car seats with the doors open and naps were also not had in the double stroller as a long walk was taken around the park.  Running, jumping and getting exceptionally dirty in the sand, dirt and rocks was had by all children though.

What did happen was more nudity.  My son finally got the hang of going in the "wee wee bushes" or watering the trees.  He's been resistant to going out of doors for some time now but today was a success three times.   His sister also figured out how to go in the grass.  After a bit we just kept her in her underpants and if she needed to go, she'd take her underpants down, sit in the grass and be utterly happy that she had gone.  One time she sat in the rocks and peed, which looked uncomfortable to the rest of us but was completely satisfactory to her.

We ended the evening with a bonfire roasting marshmallows.  Both children ate lots of s'mores and then fell asleep immediately once they got in the car.  We had to wake them when we got home for a bath, which they were both irritable about, but suffered through.  They then went to sleep a whole hour before bedtime without a whimper or complaint.

Oh, did I mention it's my husband's birthday today?  The s'mores were his request that his mother made sure happened.  We also had cup cakes and sang the happy birthday song over a citronella candle that he blew out.  I hope daddy had fun on his birthday.  It was a nice day at the lake camping with Nana and Papa as well.

The Big Boy Update:  Wee wee bushes and pee pee holes.  My son has finally decided it's okay to pee outside on a bush.  This afternoon he even peed on the sand at the shore of the lake.  After going, he looked to Papa and said, "I made pee pee holes."

The Tiny Girl Chronicles:  My daughter spent more time today working with the small pebble rocks that were on the campsite ground.  The rocks were laid there to make a nice foundation for parking and camping and were about a quarter to a half-inch in diameter.  She would pick up handfuls of them and spread them all over the bench on the table.  Then, she would brush them off and giggle.  She did this over and over.  She got a cup and would fill the cup up and pour the rocks on people's knees, chairs, other areas of the ground or anywhere else that looked interesting.  She spent more time on little rocks than any other single activity I've ever seen her focused on before.