Time and fireflies

As soon as we returned home from B's birthday party, we went into "manic mode" and began packing everything for our camping trip.



I tried to have as much ready as I could, but there are always things left to do.



So on Saturday, an hour after returning home, we were heading back out of the driveway, not to return until Monday afternoon.



I was ready for some relaxation.



We had initially been undecided as to where we were going to go camping. After finding out that B had been invited to a party, on the same day as his, at Lake of the Ozark, we decided that we would camp there.



We arrived just ahead of a thunderstorm. We "popped up" our camper just in time to climb in and avoid the rain.



After everyone getting their bearings, we left to go to Miner Mike's, the location of J's party. The kids had never been to Miner Mike's and once B was convinced that it "wasn't scary" we went inside.



It didn't take long for him to decide that "next year" he wanted to have his party there.



Is this progress?



And once he decided that the indoor roller coaster wasn't too fast, we couldn't get him off of it.



And considering that the kids rode the bumper cars approximately 1,874 times before getting off to try something new, I think they were a hit, too.
I love skee ball and it was really hard not to beg L for her to let her loving mama to play a few times.

And since B was playing the "it's my birthday card" all weekend, there wasn't a chance that he would hand over a token.

Shortly after B played skee ball, he decided that he would rather play the "train game". The train game consisted of dropping in your token and trying to get it to land in a train car.....and winning a few tickets.

(We know all about the high quality toys that can be bought with tickets....if you are lucky, you might even score a spider ring.)

Coincidentally enough, B landed that token into the slot on the top of the train car that caused the car to dump.

This caused the machine to start spitting out tickets....and more tickets....and more tickets.

Let's just say that B was really excited when he was able to "purchase" a toy story toy, a nerf football and a spider ring.

Oh, I kid about the spider ring.

It was a light up top.

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That night we returned home and rode our bikes around the campground. There is nothing the kids like more than to ride their bikes on asphalt.

To country kids who have a gravel driveway, on a gravel road, asphalt is like "extreme biking".

They can't get enough.

Well, they can't get enough until they face plant into said asphalt.

B does this every time. Really, it is now a tradition and camping wouldn't seem right without a bike accident and nearby campers rushing to his aid.

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The kids also brought their nets to capture fireflies and when, instead, the fireflies landed in (or on) the net, L declared, "lightning bugs are just different around here...."

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In the middle of the night, around 2 a.m. I heard someone knocking on our door.

At least it sounded like someone knocking on our door.

But who, in their right mind, would be knocking on our door? Surely I was hearing things. Right?

Except all thoughts of it being my imagination was dashed when I heard it again.

"Steven...someone is outside or something is outside."

(Now I am sure that at this point you expect Steven to jump out of bed, sword drawn, ready to slay the person or beast that is outside.....however, instead he continued to sleep until I shook him.....and then, and only then, did he get up and look outside.)

What he saw was the what he described as being the "fattest raccoon ever".

Apparently, the "fattest raccoon ever" prefers Nature's Own Wheat Bread to generic Funyuns and is extremely dexterous and able to open TWO drawers on our food "cart".



The middle drawer which held the Funyuns and other assorted snacks and the bottom drawer which held bread and waffle mix.

Exhibit A:

Torn open sack of Funyuns (again, generic...don't email me, people) and bread. It was a whole loaf.

So, the next morning, as a way of channeling our disappointment at the loss of Funyuns (I don't like them either...) we rode bikes.