Firstly, I’m not one to plaster my kid’s faces on the internet but this blog is my space to out my memories and thoughts.
This picture is the first time all three of my kids went camping. We stay for a few days, played in the pool, and did some walking and fishing. Now that would have been a good one. All three are fishing. Oh well. Next time.
So I give you, starting from the front. My son B, daughter R (doesn’t live with us), and stepdaughter S.
I’ve answered and deleted it about five times. I have, what you will call, a love-and hate-relationship of camping. The posh snobbery that I was brought on taught me to turn my nose up at camping. My parents never took me camping, instead favoring static homes and hotel resorts. So naturally when confronted with “Let’s go camping” it instantly fills me full of mixed emotions.
D was the first person I have ever gone camping with. She showed me that it can actually be fun. She has been SO accommodating. I hated putting up the tent so she buys an inflatable one. There are a few other things that took I really had hang-ups about. Having an electrical hook-up is amazing though. We have all the kit living in the attic. Kettle, hob, toaster, and go knows what else. It made me appreciate the warmth. Last year it was really warm but the nights were freezing. Especially when your bed has sprung a leak and I just slept on the floor. Which isn’t as bad as it sounds as I prefer cold and hard mattresses.
I do still dread it though. I’m not sure which part I hate the most. The filling of the car, the setting up and taking it down? I used to have an issue where I felt exposed to everyone but discovered with the new tent I can seal it up tight and no one can see inside. We had a couple of great holidays last year. One down south and one near us in Cheshire where my daughter R came along. That was a truly awesome holiday. It involved fishing. Anything fishing-related makes things better. Plus I got to teach her how to do it before she lost interest when the fish weren’t biting.
There was one horrific memory from last year.
Last camping trip of the season. Kids are playing in the pool. Me and D had gotten out the pool and were drying next to the pool. B swims up to say hello. Suzi pushes him from behind. Crunch. I’ll never forget that sound. The sound of teeth smashing against concrete. We ran over to him expecting all his teeth to be smashed. His front tooth was. That was traumatic. Fortunately, the dentist reassured us over the phone that it can be fixed. D was on the phone to 111 NHS advice. So we kept an eye on him to make sure nothing else got messed up. R was with us and spent the afternoon looking after him and keeping him busy.
Crunch.
Damn.
So I like camping and I hate camping. I don’t think we will be able to go camping again this year due to B and his issues with misophonia and also my snoring. Unless I sleep in the car, he might not hear me then. But the whole trip will be filled with stress. Can we go here? will it be busy? will he hear others eating? Will I feel safe? a whole load of things. Well. If we camp near home as a test run. Like the lakes, about an hour away from here.
We escaped the house and fled to Sherwood Forrest, where the legend of Robin Hood resides. When we got there (eventually after a 2 hour traffic jam) we pitched in the rain whilst the kids stayed in the car playing on phones.
We got soaked. Everything but we managed to get everything setup and changed into dry clothes and settled in with sausages and chips for dinner (we have a little oven). The camp site was also a fishery with 4 lakes and a canal. I brought all my fishing bits with me and taught the kids how to fish.
They loved it and what was even more precious? they both managed to catch a few fish over the weekend. D loved it as well, I had to wrestle one of the rods off her so the kids could have a go. I bought the kids a couple of poles but they found casting more fun so put two reels on.
It was so nice. Just relaxing by the canal. Catching the odd fish but that didnt matter. It was being outside, it was being with my family and an escape from the doom and gloom of the past few weeks.
We went out for a posh meal and Nina the dog was allowed in as well. Of course we had to go to the see the legend that is the forrest. The trees were beautiful and you could really feel the history surrounding you. Seeing the villagers who used to travel through there and where the king would hunt. It used to be over 100,000 acres of land reserved for the king as hunting grounds (this is like 300 years ago) and anyone found plundering food or wood would be punished. Its only about 1,000 acres now but still. You can feel it.
We got home late on yesterday and I’ve so far spent the day putting all the camping stuff back into the attic ready & waiting for the next trip. Hopefully we’ll be going up to Edinburgh to see the family, and some friends at the end of the month.
The new medication seems to be working, well its not new they just upped to the max dose which plays havoc in the morning when I take it for the first ten minutes but after that I feel better on them.
