September 1

Camping adventures and misadventures...

On the turnpike driving to the campground, we heard a loud sound and saw some things from our roof box landing on the road that was rapidly disappearing from view behind us. Luckily we were able to pull over safely, but we were concerned about our lost pillows and sleeping bags causing trouble for other drivers. We called the turnpike people. They sent someone to find and return what they could. Sarah’s pillow and sleeping bag were retrieved. Sadly, we lost two other pillows and Amy’s beloved pink sleeping bag. It is a mystery to us of where they would be, unless the roof box opened prior to the loud sound, thus shedding items before we knew it. We will keep our eyes open on our drive home, but our expectations are low. We grabbed some extra pillows and a comforter from our mountain house and continued to the campground, much later than planned. It seems that when I locked the roof box, it hadn’t been latched properly, so I spent some time feeling bad about ruining things. But overall, things still went well and Amy is resilient, as am I. We set up camp in the dark and ate a cold dinner because the wood was too damp to make much of a fire (don’t worry, we still had s’mores). 

Saturday we had a wonderful day, despite signage that was unhelpful. Note to campground people: don’t have a path with a sign on each end pointing in and saying “amphitheater” if said amphitheater is actually at one end and not in the middle. Still, once we found the bake sale there, the donuts made up for any trouble. We then had a relaxed time at the beach and a relaxed dinner with a campfire. This morning we broke camp rapidly because it was raining and we didn’t know if it would last all day. Coming and going, we now know it is possible to have way more in our car than we previously imagined. Carl as the driver was the only person without piles of things under his legs and on his lap. 

Other camping misadventures involved Sarah going to the bathroom by herself and accidentally going to the wrong campsite, luckily calling for us so we could find her. She also accidentally went to the men’s room on a different occasion. Given that in so many instances she uses bathrooms independently with no problem, this was a good check-in for us that maybe she isn’t quite as adept at some skills as we thought. When she went to the wrong campsite it was because she followed a woman out of the bathroom and when the woman realized she had a companion she asked Sarah what color car her family had. She asked if it was red. When Sarah said yes the woman left her at the site where I found her. But our car is blue. If the woman had asked what site she was in, Sarah might have answered more clearly because she knew we were in 204. Although I also would have said she knew the color of our car. Also, note to self, if I have a kid trailing me, I will make sure I get them to the right grown-up before leaving them. As Ma Ingalls would say, alls well that ends well. To give added context, our site was just across the road and up a few feet from the bathroom, so all of this happened in a smallish space. 

Now, to back up... Sarah’s first week of fifth grade went well, as far as I could tell. When I ask how her day was she always says “good.” I didn’t hear anything from her teacher. Each morning went easily with her getting ready for the bus. It felt much more like slipping into a familiar routine than other school-year starts have. Meanwhile, Amy has started to dismiss me earlier and earlier in our walk to her school. 

When G came to play with Sarah on Friday, Sarah promptly became the teacher, sitting on a stool and asking student G to name an animal that lives in the water. That moment seemed amazing. 

Lots of love to you all. May you find your place even if you go the wrong way at first.