Ok, Ok, so I've neglected this space again. I was going to post something Friday about how excited I was that this weekend was our vacation, that Gak, Boo and I actually got 3.5 whole days together! We went camping again this year at the same campground that we went to last year.
I knew it was going to be a bit of an adventure even before we left Saturday afternoon.
This was the first time I put the new bike rack onto the car. That was a bit of an adventure. I had problems getting the straps to be tight enough on the rack. Then I had problems getting the bike on, but I managed to get it on with a minimal of growling and only a bit of grease, elbow and otherwise. Of course, the one strap didn't play nice the entire weekend.
The ride down was fairly uneventful.We stopped just into Maryland and had some dinner. The one strap on the bike rack had come loose again, so I fixed it. (It managed to stay put all the way to the camp site after this.) Traffic wasn't very bad at all (unlike getting stuck at the DE/MD line.) Then, when we get to the camp ground, they couldn't find my reservation. I had realized about 20 minutes into the ride that I hadn't printed out my email confirmation, but I wasn't worried. I couldn't find the email quickly on my phone, but thankfully the camp was over half open, and there were more than enough tent sites to spare. We got a very nice site, just across from where we were last year. I love their tent sites, all under the trees and shady and most are fairly big.
We manage to get everything set up and the boy-o in bed fairly easily. There were some moments getting the blue dining tarp up, but nothing reading the directions four times couldn't fix. We decided not to have a fire that evening because it was already 8:30 and we were all tired and the boy-o was already in bed. It also decided to rain over night. (The forecast had been flip-flopping all over the place with the weather all week...) It wasn't too bad, just everything was slightly damp in the morning. It was also gray and threatening to rain again at any moment.
Originally we were going to just have a lazy day at the camp site, maybe swim a bit, maybe go to a family thing in Laurel, but just hang out and decompress. Well, with the iffy weather, we decided to change plans. (Mom also decided not to go to the family thing in Laurel, she was exhausted and had a lot to do around the house anyhow, even with having Monday "Boo free".) We decided to go into DC and go to one or two museums and then play it by ear. We also stopped back in at the office to see if they'd found my reservations and they had, so refunded me the $25 deposit. I really can't say enough good things about the staff at Cherry Hill Park.
When given a choice of seeing dinosaurs or spaceships and airplanes, Boo chose spaceships. (I didn't even coach him on that one.) Mostly he wanted to "ride trains" again this year. We make it to the Metro station after only missing one turn and have an uneventful ride into DC. I've decided that as much as I like the convenience of public transit, long subway rides are not for me, I was beginning to feel quite green around the edges by the time we got to the Smithsonian stop. We had a nice, but brief, visit with the space ships, but then Boo was getting cranky about being hungry and wanted to eat and well, to make a long story short, there was walking, a little rain and crankiness by everyone and all the local places were closed on a Sunday so we ended up eating at the Native American museum. The food there is very good and I suggest it to anyone in the area. Just be prepared to spend an arm and a leg for it (although if you're a Smithsonian member, you can save $10, which is nice). We wandered through most of that museum and Boo found a book he couldn't live without. I was more than willing to add to his collection.
By then it was time to head back to the campsite. We got back and it was nice and sunny out so we decided that a dip in the pool (with some ice cream as a snack first) was just what we needed. After we got back to the site after our swim it was time to get supper going. But, our grill wasn't cooperating because it had gotten a bit flooded in the rain in the day. So, back to the snack bar we went for dinner.
I was looking forward to a relaxing evening by the campfire and my s'mores. I started the fire after we got back from dinner. By about 8:30 we'd gotten Boo into his PJ's Gak had given hugs and was heading to the bath house and I was reading Boo his new book again. I was about 2/3 of the way through the book, when I hear the tell-tale sounds of rain. I drop the book and dash out into the site, to toss another few logs onto the fire hoping that it was just a passing shower, gather the towels off the line and toss them onto the table, toss the chairs under the table and cover everything with a big silver tarp.
Well, that was all wishful thinking.
As I sat there in the tent listening to the rain hiss in the fire (which eventually went out) and roll off the tent, I realized it was getting worse. Gak came back from the bath house and we all huddled in the tent. I tried to cuddle Boo to sleep, but he was being awake boy. I eventually just ignored him and pretended to sleep and Gak rolled over to the other wall of the tent reading. It was fun to listen to the stream of consciousness that came rolling out of Boo's mouth until he eventually fell asleep. Such a window into his mind. Apparently his friends from day care are Dominic, Mikey and Joey, pretty much in that order, but not Kevin. (I already knew that...) Also, he realized that Momma and Daddy were being quiet and he should probably be quiet too. Just as we thought the storm was getting to the worst it was going to get, Boo fell asleep. He stayed that way pretty much throughout the entire night. Of course, this was optimistic about the storm. It got a lot worse before it ended. Throughout most of this time, I really, really had to go to the bath house myself. I was also holding a facebook conversation with Barb trying to do something with my time, since I couldn't go sit by the fire and toast marshmallows. (By the way, microwave s'mores are totally not a true replacement for the real thing...) Gak and I looked at the weather and that it was supposed to continue to rain off and on all day Monday and probably Monday night as well. We decided that we'd just pack it in a day early and head home, stopping in Baltimore and probably go to the aquarium. I think the rain eventually stopped sometime around 11, I'd given up and tried to go to bed a bit before that.
Anyhow, I was quite amazed at how little damage was done to the camp site. I thought for sure I'd have to replace the blue dining tarp, but it had just popped inside out like an umbrella. The blue tarp went one way, the silver tarp the other way, and everything on the table and under it was soaked. This meant the towels too. We managed to pack up with little trouble, but a lot of mud and muck. Even more impressive was the fact that when we went to check out, the campground refunded me the last night's fee. I really wasn't expecting that!
We did go to Baltimore and had a very nice time in the aquarium. It was very crowded, but we still managed to have a good time. It was so much larger than the last time we went. Boo seemed to enjoy it. It started to rain right as we got out of the aquarium, so we had lunch right next door at the Potbelly Sandwich, which we could have missed, but it was close. We also went over to Barnes and Nobles and hung out for a bit and had some dessert.
The only thing eventful about the ride home was the fact that the bike decided to try and fall off before we left Baltimore. Thankfully we weren't on 95 yet, but it was still a bit nerve wracking. Anyhow, we stopped at Kat's on the way home to borrow the line to hang up the wet tent and catch up a bit. After getting home I did up the wet and damp laundry at the laundry mat.
Today we thought about going to the Philly Zoo, thanks to the membership Jon and Becca got us for Christmas, but Boo was extra tired boy and we hung around the hose instead.
So, tomorrow we all head back to work and school. I'm not really looking forward to it, but it'll be nice to get back to the routine a bit.
Peace to all and I hope that you had a drier but fun weekend.
P.S. I do have some photos, but I have to upload them. Also, my camera battery died Monday morning, so no aquarium pictures.
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