Hashawha 2010

For years, as a child, my parents would dutifully pack up my sister and I and drive across Ohio, Pennsylvania and into Maryland to take us to Hashawha Nature Center. The rustic bunkhouse cabins were just so much fun-rooming with our girl friends and their mothers, giggling late into the evening until my mother gave me the stink eye...oh the memories. Last year, Chris and I packed up the kids to let them experience the joys for themselves and this year was no exception. They had so much fun last year, we couldn't think of a good enough reason not to return again this year. The camp is fairly small and the kids have a chance to really get to know the other kids there. We left the Friday after Thanksgiving...

First stop: ATM for toll money. We amuse ourselves waiting for Chris.

Yes, Grace held that pose for quite some time.

Ruth was being really grumpy. So, the cure for that was to take her picture anyway.

Tooth check! All clear. Thanks, Bud.

We arrived at the camp around 5pm. It was just check in time and I was stoked because I was hoping to get a choice bunk in the cabin. Unfortunately, we were just a little bit too late for the choice bunk in the girls' side. I had to settle for a bed against the wall, which ended up being a good thing, but I'll get to that later. You see, we had baby with us and I needed a place to park his pack and play. The cubby bunk would have afforded lots of space and goodly amounts of darkness for Baby Cakes. But, it wasn't to be. I had packed food for us to eat when we arrived, rather than eat out. David was most disappointed at the packed lunch. He much prefers we eat out. I don't know what that says for my cooking abilities. :/ Anyway...the kids ate and then I turned them loose outside to run pell-mell around the playset in the dark. You know, like any good mother would. "Hey kids! Go outside where it's freezing cold and dark and go run around the playground equipment and don't get hurt!!" Okay, I went with them and I chased them around a bit, too, for good measure. Well, not the baby. He wasn't walking yet and chasing a crawling baby just doesn't have the same effect. He stayed inside. The kids being sufficiently worn out, I marched them back to the barracks...um bunkhouse and showered them and put them to bed. During this time, Baby Cakes cried himself into an exhausted sleep and I soon followed suit. It was much, much later, everyone else being in bed and asleep when I hear Baby Cakes talking to himself. I heaved a great internal sigh and wondered why the night had sped by so fast and I was still so tired. I lay very, very still in the hopes that he would drift back off and I could sleep a few more minutes before everyone started to get up. I was guessing it was round about 6am. No such luck and Baby Cakes began to get louder in his talking. I thought perhaps I could just pick him up and take him into bed with me and he'd settle back to sleep. I'm guessing about 30 minutes have passed at this point and I'm just about out of quiet time. We lay down. He wiggles, he giggles, he pokes my eyes, picks my nose, scratches the wall and gets louder. I grab my watch and we head out to the hallway. I figure I can entertain him until the other ladies wake up. I check my watch and I'm horrified to find that it's just 2am. Oh dear. To make a long and excruciating story shorter, he fussed, complained and fought sleep until about 5am, when he finally gave in. I put him back in his pack and play and crawled back into my bed, hoping for about 2 hours of sleep before I had to be up. I was deep asleep when I heard the loud crying of a baby, very angry at being left in a pack and play. I grabbed him, shushed him, wrapped him like a mummy (well, minus the head scarf, that would have been a bit over the top, ya know?) and put him in my bed next to the wall (remember I said that was a good thing in the long run?) and he promptly went back to sleep and I crashed. We had to be up at 7am. I was supposed to set up for breakfast. I didn't make it. To ease my conscience, Chris went down and took my spot. I was really dragging.

Ruth visiting with her new friends.

I taught the first kids' class where I corralled 7 kids and tried to interest them in the story of Samuel's anointing of David to be king of Israel. 3 of the kids, ok...they were mine...had already heard the story recently and probably didn't pay as much attention as they should have and the rest of the kids did well enough. Did I mention I was fighting a head cold, too, so I was quite hoarse by the end of the hour? I sat in the nursery for the next class and finally made it to the third class, where I nearly fell asleep due to my lack of sleep the night before. Baby Cakes rested comfortably for that class and was gearing up for an afternoon of play.

We had lunch and the kids were wild to go to the Nature Center to check out the animals there. Chris wanted us to all go, but I not so politely declined. I was so tired I thought I might pass out. Baby was quite eager to romp around the room. I could not take him back to our bunk for a nap for fear of waking the other little girl already there and sleeping-as was her very pregnant mother. I just couldn't do it. So, we stayed in the main hall and he played and I tried not to fall asleep. By 3pm I had had enough. I made Baby sit on my lap. He was so mad, but he fell asleep shortly after that. I snuggled back into a corner with him sleeping on my shoulder and I drifted off to sleep. Meanwhile, Chris took the kids to the nature center....

Ruth is blocking Byron, in case you were wondering just where he was.

The Fearsome Foursome pose

And what is a visit to a nature center without a set of antlers on your head?

After the nature center, they all took a walk on the hiking trails

They saw many birds, along the way, that were being rehabilitated.

After the first bad night with Baby Cakes, I was really worried about night 2, but it turned out I was worried for nothing. He slept all night and so did I. I did, however, put the boys to bed on time, but the girls were allowed to stay out late and attend the camp fire and hymn sing after the evening classes. They were old enough, too, that they came in and put themselves to bed very nicely. It was great. I roused myself just long enough to make sure they were in and in bed and that was all I had to do. Score one for independence!

The next morning, the boys woke everyone on the men's side with shouts of "DEER!!" as they looked out the window by their bunk.

After meeting, playing on the newly crafted water fall area.

We finally got on the road around 1pm. It was a long drive home, but the first few hours went well-the kids were tired and slept. It was only after they woke that it got a little bickery. I made up that word just for our car trip. Bickery. Then it was Giggly. I'm not quite sure which is worse, honestly. Because I was bored, I was once again playing with the camera as evening came on.

"What are you doing?" he asked. Bwahaahaa! Taking pictures of you to put on my blog!

Wishing a setting sun meant we were closer than 3 hours + a dinner stop from home.