Once again, I was an early bird in this Sunday morning. I concluded for sure we needed to "upgrade" the floor padding. Maybe an air mattress for Mr. Over-the-hill here. I strolled around, the different camp sites are interconnected, there was a common restroom at the end of each loop. I saw more jet skis, boats, motor cycles, a few campers even added their own personal touches -garden gnomes, string lights, solar yard lights, etc.
I made it back to our camp site at 7:45 am, two families were up preparing breakfast for everyone. The breakfast menu was 豬肉香腸, 荷包蛋, 吐司, and Dr. Wu’s specialty – 紅豆餅. I think the smell of breakfast got everyone up within minutes. This camping trip was looking much better and more enjoyable. I took my wife for a stroll after the breakfast. By mid morning the parents gathered around to discuss the plan for the day. It didn’t take long to reach a decision – back to the beach it was.
Since my wife and I were in charge of lunch duty, we stayed and let our boys go with the group. We all packed up our kids in the back of the truck we did the day before. I told my boys to have a good time but not to swim in the water then I waved to them goodbye. I worked on assembling a portable BBQ grill while my wife began cutting up vegetables. Some 15 minutes later the whole gang came back. M.H.’s license expired, and the police told them no kids under 16 could ride on the back of a truck without proper restraints. $85 for having kids in the back of the truck! We must have passed by at least 5 patrol cars yesterday and none of them pulled us over.
Plan B, we placed kids in vans, cars this time. Dr. Wu’s wife remembered that he forgot to bring his swimming trunks so she handed a pair to M.H. So, trip to the beach – take two. A few minutes after the gang left Dr. Wu emerged, he went to the restroom but didn’t tell anyone. They just assumed he went with one of the vehicles and left without him. He said he 被放鴿子, we were all laughing that his swimming trunks were on their way to the beach, without him!
It took about 1/2 hr for me to assemble the grill, it was trial and error since the instruction wasn’t very good. The hungry troop wouldn’t return for another two hours, I should have enough time to cook 4 bags of marinated pork, steak and a whole case of hamburger patties. My wife’s portion of cooking was over quickly, a big pot of stir fried veggies. There were still left over dishes from the day before. M.H.’s wife mentioned about the next camping trip, I looked over to my wife. To my surprise, my wife said that she had a good time and a second trip sounded great! My jaw must have hit the floor, I turned and asked her "Did you just say you would go camping again?"
The next camping trip would be over the 4th of July weekend. Within the State of Indiana this time, about 1 1/2 hrs from home. M.H.’s wife said each camp space was larger, the rest rooms much cleaner and the lake water safe enough to swim in. There is even an inn inside the state park! Hallelujah! Other than the stiff ground, which an air mattress should take care of, I’m good to go with trip #2.
No sooner had I finished BBQing than the parade of cars began to pull in. Needless to ask, everyone was hungry. The late lunch was over just before 3 pm. After a few minutes of rest, it was time to pack up the tents and gears. I didn’t have much to pack since I did most of the packing after breakfast. I helped out the others and talked to M.H. about the remaining trip plan. We planned to visit an IKEA store and return to the Chinese restaurant we dined in a couple of nights before.
I asked my boys if they had a good time and if they would want to go camping again. It was a no brainer, both yelled out "yes!". I then asked my wife for a confirmation, "Are we going?", her reply was a firm "yes". I don’t expect to convert my family to outdoorsy anytime soon, but it looks like there is hope, especially with my wife.
For camping photos, please visit my trip album:
original post date: May 24, 2009
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