Camping Under the Stars

July 16th, 2010

camping-under-the-stars

Here is my crazy experience camping under the stars with my family. My story includes sleeplessness, a helicopter, and a downpour. No wonder I hate camping!

Camping is a fun summer activity for most families. For some oddball reason, I don’t like sleeping on the ground. An air mattress does not resemble a real mattress. It just doesn’t. (Remember what happened to me in Paris, and you’ll understand why camping isn’t my favorite thing.) But last year when my husband wanted me to go camping with him and the boys for Cub Scout family camp, I decided to give it a try again. Since I love nature, and I love the idea of my boys having the adventure of being in a tent, I felt gung-ho about the whole thing.

When we arrived, the first order of business was to set up the tent. It was a big tent, so it took quite a while to set up. Then we blew up the air mattresses and unrolled the sleeping bags, and voila! …home away from home.camping-under-the-stars-2

That night I had trouble getting to sleep. First the boys were giggling and tossing and turning and swishing and whispering and shooshing. You get the point. My husband told them to knock it off, and they were quiet after that, aside from the occasional turn.

Tick, tick, tick. Time just passed, and I wasn’t falling asleep. I was finally beginning to doze off at 1am, when a loud helicopter flew above us and nearly scared me out of my wits. Every 10 or 15 minutes, it would circle back over, just to make sure that people drifting off would not be able to actually get to sleep. (Later my sister told me they were probably looking for a fugitive, and that a helicopter is always bad news, especially in the middle of the night. I told her I was glad I hadn’t thought of that.)

camping-under-the-stars-3The next night when it was time to go to bed, we had gone stargazing, and the boys had pointed out lots of constellations. My husband took the top off our tent, and we went to sleep under the stars. The boys were snoring within about 10 minutes of hitting the sack. My husband and I made love under the stars. I thought to myself, “This isn’t so bad. It’s romantic and fun, and I’ve never fallen asleep under the stars before.” No helicopters disturbed my sleep.

Water suddenly splashed my face at dawn, and I realized there was a huge downpour of rain coming straight into our tent! In the few seconds it took me to wake up my husband, I noticed the puddles on top of the sleeping bags of my 3 sleeping boys. My husband and I grabbed the tarp and flung it up onto the tent, getting completely drenched in the process. I looked like a drowned rat. “Good morning. We might as well get up. Can anyone find any dry clothes? It doesn’t matter if they’re dirty at this point. Dry is the only thing that matters,” I instructed my boys. They eventually got dressed. In the process of going to the camp bathroom and back, we tracked mud all over the inside of the tent. (We let it dry during the day and later swept it out.)

I shook the puddles off the sleeping bags. Oddly, the rain stopped the minute we put the tarp back on. Looking around the camp, the ground was dry everywhere except for where our tent was. It was as if God had dumped a bucket of water right on us because it gave Him pleasure to do so.

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Posted in Fun Summer Activities | 8 Comments »

Practicing Sports Skills

July 15th, 2010

practicing-sports-skills

The summer is the perfect time for practicing sports skills, especially if you are a homeschooling family and don’t have the opportunity during the school year. I’ve gotten inexpensive sporting equipment at Goodwill. For example, I bought a metal baseball bat for $4, and most of my leather mits cost me from $1 to $4 each. I bought enough for a whole baseball game because I was leading a Cub Scout group. If your family owns enough equipment for a real game, you can always invite one or two other homeschooling families to come play ball with you.

One way I helped my sons to learn how to bat a ball was to hang a wiffle ball from a tree branch or other contraption. With a wiffle bat, the child would bat the ball when it was not moving. This helped with the child’s aim. Batting T’s are helpful, too. I also drew a circle on the shed with chalk, and the child had to throw the wiffle ball into the circle. This helped the child to aim the ball when he was throwing it.

softball-skills

We always start learning about a sport by reading a picture book about it from the library. That way we know what the rules are and what skills we need to practice. We also find out what all the equipment is called. Sometimes you can find a video at the library that is a tutorial for one specific sport. These can be helpful, especially for people like me who always hated sports at school.

My children and I grab our sporting gear and walk to the nearest school. We use the basketball hoops that are there. The schools are usually empty in the summer, so you have the whole place to yourself, especially if you go in the morning. Sometimes Little League or other teams are practicing in the late afternoons.

baseball-skills

Some parks have a rectangular sand pit with a volleyball net. You can play badminton or volleyball with your children. Volleyball is much harder for young children than badminton, but if you buy a large, lightweight bouncing ball at Walmart, it can be hilarious to hit over the net. Use your imagination, and you can improve your children’s sporting skills while having fun.

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Trip Across the USA

July 9th, 2010

trip-across-the-USAOn our trip home from Tennessee, more disasters awaited us. While visiting my sister’s family, we had gotten our air conditioner replaced, because it had stopped working, and it was July. Keep in mind we live in Washington, and the trip back would take a week. The temperatures were scorching.

As soon as we crossed the border into the next state over, we heard what sounded like a small explosion. We pulled off the freeway into a parking lot. My husband opened the hood and told me something had exploded. It was the brand new air conditioner. Green liquid covered everything like an invasion from outer space. My husband asked me for a rubber band, a bag, a twistie, and other odd objects. He thought to himself out loud, “I need a bungie cord.” Keep in mind that I was praying the whole time because it was around 7 pm, and all repair shops were closed. We would be stranded in the middle of nowhere if God didn’t help us.

Suddenly a little old man materialized. He had a bungie cord in his hand. He helped my husband jerry-rig the exploded air conditioner in place so that we could limp to the next town and not be stuck. He had such a cheerful disposition that I couldn’t help asking, “Do you know Jesus?”

“Yes,” he said with a twinkle in his eye. As he walked away, I had an odd feeling that he was an angel. I told my husband what I was thinking as we pulled away.

He answered, “The man had a pickup truck.”

“Oh,” I said.

I was glad that it was evening, even though it was still light outside. It was sweltering hot, 89 degrees even with the windows down. I looked behind me at the children. They were beet red with sweat dripping down their faces. I’m not joking when I say that all four of them had wet hair. They looked like they were going to faint. Once again, I cried out to God in desperation.

I had barely finished speaking my prayer when a boom of thunder cracked overhead, and rain started pouring down. Within five minutes, God had cooled the car by 10 degrees. I had a lump in my throat as I looked at my husband. There’s no way that wasn’t God.

We had just studied weather in our homeschool, and we were in “Tornado Alley.” One of my sons said there was a funnel cloud off to the right hand side in front of us, and he started crying. I asked my husband if we were driving into a tornado. He calmly answered, “That’s not a tornado.” The rain was pouring down so hard, our windshield wipers weren’t fast enough.

At long last, we arrived in the next town. We found a Motel 6, and my kids, after staying in motels for two weeks said, “Home sweet Motel 6.” We slept well that night with the air conditioner cranked up.

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Driving Across the USA

July 8th, 2010

A few years ago, my sidriving-across-the-usaster’s daughter was having a wedding, and we couldn’t afford to fly our family from Washington to Tennessee. So we decided to take the long road trip. Because of our tight budget, we stayed at Motel 6 in most cities. The first night (Rapid City, SD) our room was the size of a closet, with two supposedly double beds against each wall with one foot between them. Two kids with sleeping bags were on the floor. Needless to say, they occasionally got stepped on. The air conditioner stopped working, and it was the month of July. Sweat trickled down my face as I stared at the bullet hole in the curtain. I didn’t exactly feel safe. All four children were asleep, and I was glad that my husband had his gun.

After seeing Mount Rushmore and other fun sights, we spent the second night at the same motel. I dreaded going to bed. The children were all happy and tired from a day well-spent, full of bright and interesting adventures.driving-across-the-usa-2

For some reason we left the next morning without getting coffee. I hadn’t gotten much sleep due to the sweat on my skin and the occasional sound of sirens. My husband agreed that it was a bad part of town when I pointed out some shady-looking characters as we packed up the car.

As we drove for mile after mile with nothing in sight in either direction, I asked my husband when we would be stopping for a potty break. He said there was nothing anywhere for a long time. Oh, my. I needed to go diarrhea, and I was going to have to go behind a tumbleweed in full view of my boys. No, I was not going to let this happen. I prayed like crazy.

Suddenly there was a billboard in the middle of nowhere. It said, “Coffee 5 cents; Wall Drug; Exit 8 miles; Restrooms.” If a rainbow appeared behind it with a pot of gold, I couldn’t have been more happy. Billboard after billboard proclaimed the same happy news. My husband said this wasn’t on the map. I said, “Drive faster.” After all, I’ve given birth four times, and you mothers out there know what I’m saying. You just can’t hold it forever.driving-across-the-usa-3

We finally got to the exit. My husband slowed down to 20 mph. I said, “Alan, I’m not going to make it if you don’t speed up. Every second counts. You think I’m kidding. I’m not.”

He sped up slightly, saying, “I’m going to get pulled over.” As if on cue, a police car flashed his lights and pulled us over. I’m not making this up. It really happened. As the policeman came to my husband’s window, I said to him, “Please, I need to go diarrhea really badly!” He walked back to his police car with my husband’s license and registration and proof of insurance.

I waited as the precious seconds ticked away. Miraculously, the policeman returned to the car and only gave my husband a warning. We were on our way again. When we arrived at Wall Drug, I got out of the car. It was too dangerous to run, so I just walked quickly.driving-across-the-usa-4 When I reached the restrooms, they were closed for cleaning. I’m serious.

I said, “Excuse me, I’m sorry. It’s either diarrhea in the toilet or right here on the floor…” I didn’t stop walking. I barely clicked the latch and didn’t even care that there was a man in the bathroom. I think he exited right away.

I tried to find my family by going out to the car. The van was empty. I had no money and no keys. I felt like I was going to faint not only because of the heat, but because of my lack of coffee. All I needed was 5 cents. I looked at a pile of pennies and had no access to it.

If you have ever been to Wall Drug, you know that it is an enormous mall that seems like an amusement park. There is a dinosaur that roars, panning for gold, teepees, and many other amusements. I walked through shop after shop after shop. I couldn’t find my family. I wanted to cry. I thought to myself, at least I found a bathroom.

Finally after what seemed like an eternity, I found my family. “Coffee,” was the only word I could say, holding back the tears.

That is not the end of this story. After I had coffee, we looked around the shops because I was collecting Christmas ornaments that represented our trip. For example, I had bought an ornament with Mount Rushmore on it. Oddly, I found an ornament of an outhouse. I didn’t buy it at the time, and now I regret it. What a hoot that would be! How symbolic of that experience! (My husband couldn’t believe I didn’t get it. I told him as we were entering the on-ramp for the freeway.)

I’d like to say that things got better, and maybe they did. But that night my husband and I slept in a broken bed. I felt like I was trying to pull myself out of a ditch all night. The following night the toilet overflowed all over the floor, and my son hadn’t even put any toilet paper in it. Thankfully, we were given a room next door for free, so we had two rooms with a connecting door. We felt rich. The bed wasn’t broken, the air conditioner was working, and we could close the door and have some privacy. Maybe this trip wouldn’t be so bad after all.

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