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| BFF Laura |
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| Jessica |
Thank you Jessica and Laura for your continued support! Camp On!
And now a word..or two, from Jess.....
Another summer has come and gone
with my very special gaggle of people. I wouldn't want to be in the company of anyone else for summer vacation then my
BFF and OUR 5 kids. We started camping
at Burlingame umpteen years ago with our folks, and have continued the tradition
with our own band of misfits. Every
winter begins the countdown and the questions from my girls “mamma, how much
longer till we go camping?” ……or to my BFF--”Pearl, what camping items did you
find this week?” My BFF’s name is Laura but I call her Pearl LOL—it references
my grandmother and her best friend, but that is a tale for another blog.
This year our camping trip seemed
to creep up way to slowly, but finally it was upon us. As excited as we all were, a few weeks before
our annual trip, my BFF delivered devastating news to me…. She would have to
LEAVE CAMP EARLY! GASP ‘THE HORRA’
Her oldest had football practice.
Damn kids ruin everything!! We have a set routine. An order
of things done. A set way to begin and
end our camping journey, so as NOT to
anger the camping gods. It seems that we
miss something every year which results in cracked windshields, trips to the ER
with hot cops, postage stamp sized campgrounds, torrential down pours,
hurricanes, car alarms that refuse to shut off, or tarps a-smoldering. There is a long laundry list of camping
mishaps for us and each memory makes us giggle.
This year started off on the wrong
foot! As I mentioned the camping gods….
They were already plotting against us just for the fact that my BFF had to
leave early. Now, one of the other
rituals that we have is to meet at a specific time. Then, 45 minutes AFTER that specified time we
all manage to get to our meeting spot.
Once we are on the road, and then turn back once---twice---sometimes
three times for things we have forgotten, we begin our journey. I am the driver and Laura is the ‘navigator’
and yes I use that term very loosely. As
we listen to the kids bicker and argue and fight and laugh, Laura and I
reminisce of old times and ponder what will go wrong this year. This is the routine. This is what did NOT happen this year as we
took 2 cars (dun duh duuuummm) AND Laura left a full 5 hours after we
did. There was no hope for us to make it
through the week without the camping gods having their revenge. Arriving at our normal halfway spot in Middletown Connecticut, i felt the void of half
of my camp clan missing. Not even my pick me up DD coffee was oddly not the same. But….drive on I did. Once I made it to Burlingame, I set up camp
with minimal yelling for the kids to help me.
Then off to dinner and the store to pick up supplies. FINALLY my BFF showed up
around 8, just in time for her to fall asleep around the campfire! And so ends our first day.
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| Camping Cuisine... |
The rest of the ‘week’ was filled
with new friends, (thanks Laurie and Craig) lots and lots of rain, a trip to
Wal-Mart in the middle of the night with my love to stop the Titanic (aka my
tent) from sinking. It is amazing what
tarps keep out (the rain), and what they also keep in (smelly feet and kid
stench…oh, and body heat and.... tooting).
This year brought new
adventures to the Point Judith Lighthouse, Bagels and More, the Umbrella Factory, Misquamicut go karts, and a Chinese buffet (please don’t
judge). If you are looking to lose
yourself in jewelry, clothing, cool nick-knacks or a bamboo maze—The Umbrella
Factory is the place to go. For a few
hours of fun off the beach, the go karts and bumper boats are a blast! This trip was also filled with the old
standbys. The beaches of Westerly,
Charlestown and Galilee, Frisbee tosses, metal detecting, Watch Hill for the carousel, ice cream and
our annual trip to Romeo’s shop.
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| ...the camp tradition will live on! |
And of
course, the most important thing of all…. Memories made around the campfire. I was even grown up enough this
year to let others light the campfire. Between the s’mores, roasted starbursts and
laughs, not a moment will be forgotten.
Children falling asleep in the chairs by the fire, marshmallows flying
all around for a marshmallow war and 007 trying to make an appearance with
lighter fluid. Folks, my love is more
dashing then 007, but should not try and get a job as a special effects master
in Hollywood. With boys being boys and
trying bug zappers on themselves, wood that didn't want to light, rain forcing
us under a pavilion for a lantern lit game of taboo….. the laughs were never
gone for long. This is my place. This is home to me. And every year I spend here with my BFF, my
love, our kids, or our folks that come
for the day, it always leaves the promise of a
lifetime of memories. My
countdown to next year has already begun.
Only 343 days to go! Laura…let the shopping begin.
