On Friday George and I took the kids and joined our friends Dean and Joanne for some camping up north, like last summer. A friend of theirs had hired George’s band to come play at his party and we made a weekend out of it.

Camping wasn’t so much camping this year as it was just getting away from the city, but that’s good enough for me! We didn’t get up north until after 10 pm (and amazingly, the girls both stayed awake the whole drive and entertained themselves). Since it was pitch black – not much in the way of lights up there – the guy who was having the party the next day told us not to even try pitching the tent, and to just sleep in the house. Dean and Joanne took one room and we took the other, and that was awesome because I have pitched tents in the dark before and it is possible but it’s not fun.

I put Breanna to bed in the room and then joined the others out in the back yard where George had been asked to play some guitar. We sat around singing songs and enjoying the fresh air. Hayley claimed to not be tired but fell asleep before the second song; we let her sleep under a blanket in front of the fire for three hours and carried her in later. After midnight, everyone sang happy birthday to me and set off some popping streamer things over my head. I think it was after 3 when I got to bed.

And then Breanna and I woke up at 8:30 and ten minutes later I was drinking coffee down here while she threw rocks in the water.

That was AWESOME. I think I should be able to have coffee on a river bank every damn morning.

Hayley woke up about half an hour later and joined us, and we let George sleep in – until noon! Meanwhile we passed the time by going for a walk, skipping and throwing eight billion rocks, and relaxing.

In the afternoon we got the tent up and Breanna and I both tried to have a nap but we lasted all of 40 minutes before it was just too unbearably hot in there. I also spent some time visiting the neighbors who have the best set up for kids ever in their yard – enclosed trampoline, play set with swings, mini climbing wall, ride-on toys, pool, everything. The kids had a blast playing with their two kids who were the perfect age matches at 4 and 20 months.

We also spent more time by the water. Again. A lot. I loved it. Hayley constantly asked if we could go “skip” rocks and Breanna would ask “Wawa?”

By late afternoon, the band set up and was ready to get started. They played one set while some food was grilled up and then we ate before having the band play some more. Breanna wasn’t able to hang in there as long as she had the night before because of her short nap so I put her in the Baby Bjorn where she fell asleep for awhile. Unfortunately she got woken up twice and she was very unhappy about it; George spoke to the guy who owns the house and he said it was perfectly fine to put Breanna down in the bedroom again so I took her in there, and she settled immediately into a great sleep. Meanwhile, Hayley fell asleep in front of the fire again for another two or three hours – I’ve been wondering if I can build a fire on our balcony here at home and just let her sleep outside for the rest of the summer since she slept so well outside!

The band had been good all evening but by the middle of the third set, George passed that point of being “warmed up” and moved into “on fire” and it was awesome. By the fourth set, the lead singer had had enough because he had been out all night Friday, so he sat down with a beer and George sang the entire last set; he also made excellent use of his wireless set up and walked all around the yard playing his guitar. It was amazing.

Possibly one of the funniest parts of the night was when the cops showed up next door because they had built a bonfire and it was a little bit large. They gave the guy a warning to get it under control and then they came over to our side, listened to the band, which was quite loud, and mentioned how great they sounded. Then they left without giving any noise warnings. I had a good laugh about that.

When it was time for bed, I asked the guy if anyone was supposed to use the spare room and he said no, so instead of waking Breanna up to move her to the tent, I just slept in the room again while George and Hayley slept in the tent. I love tents and sleep quite well in them but the thought of maybe creating a situation where Breanna might stay awake screaming for three hours straight was not very appealing. It rained overnight and George said part of his sleeping bag got wet but overall it was okay.

In the morning, we took it easy and didn’t worry about rushing straight off to come home. After a light lunch, I took Hayley out in an inflatable kayak and we went down the river with a few other people. It was absolutely beautiful; it took us less than five minutes to drive back to the house once we got out at a bridge, but it took half an hour to get there by boat because of the way the river turns. I was wishing I had a waterproof camera because I would have loved to take eight thousand pictures along the way.

When we got back, we packed up and drove back home. It’s always a bit deflating to come home after a nice time away, but especially on Monday morning when I woke up and had to have my coffee at my desk instead of down by the river.

I have a ton of photos (50) over here if you’re interested. We had such a great time and I am so glad we went because we all needed it. The nicest surprise of all was the weather – the forecast all weekend was supposed to be non-stop rain and lots of thunderstorms. In the end, it rained a bit overnight both nights and we had a few sprinkles on Saturday, but it ended up being beautiful and on Sunday it was hot and sunny enough that I got a sunburn because I was very careful to put lots of sunblock on the kids but completely forgot myself. Oops!

Now I’m already looking forward to next time!