A Little Time Off

Last week BigDaddyFish called me to say he was taking thursday and friday off and we were going camping. Great! I need a vacation. Except, planning and executing a camping vacation over the fourth of July on short notice while also maintaining the house and taking care of the kids when he was out of pocket at work wasn't exactly what I had in mind as relaxing. However, after a bit of gnashing of teeth things managed to come together and we headed to Janes Island State Park on the Chesapeake Bay.

I was worried as all hell about going someplace so water oriented with four kids who can't swim, one of which being Nemo, who is wild and knows no fear whatsoever. Consequently, we spent a lot of time with him like this:

The staff at the park were gracious enough to loan us a life jacket so that I was a bit less anxious that dire things would result when he inevitably toppled over into the bay/sound. Thankfully he never did.

The pros:

• We all went canoeing/kayaking for the first time and no one toppled over or fell in the drink. All told we covered about 5.25 miles, which is kind of ridiculous for a first trip. My arms were shaking by the time we got back on land, as my passenger cute as she was, wasn't really up to the task of getting us anywhere. BDF took a canoe with the rest of the kids - they didn't have a big enough boat to hold all of us at once. Glad I got my cardio that day.

• We boated to a beach that was actually in Tangier Sound, so the water was relatively shallow and the kids got to play around in water free of undertows and strong currents. There was a nice breeze and the water was warm. It was a shame I forgot my bathing suit.

• It was a gorgeous place.

• The kids had a tremendously good time.

• We went in to the little town of Crisfield to eat a lot of our meals. We really enjoyed one particular restaurant because it seemed to have some sort of hypnotic effect on the kids, making them not only eat everything they ordered but also behave the best they ever have in their lives in public. Several people commented on their behavior, and I resisted the urge to assure them that clearly these were alien children, they couldn't possibly be ours. The town had a nice museum and the pier and it was lovely. The people were just delightful, and one woman at the restaurant who was celebrating her birthday offered all of us some of her cake - total strangers to her. Oh, and they had ice cream:

Nemo wholeheartedly approved.

• There was a little nature center attached to the camp store at the park, and the kids got to play with their toys and microscopes and telescopes and learn about the wildlife nearby. They especially liked the two terrapins named Ike and Tina and the ginormous snapping turtle with huge signs all around his tank warning us to keep anything we did not wish to have snapped off well away from the enclosure. The naturalist, Sally, was sweet and wonderful.

The terrapin tank.

• On the last day we were there the nature center sponsored a crab derby, where the kids were given a trap, handline, net, and a glove and two hours to see how many crab they could catch. Only crab bigger than 3" were counted, and there were prizes for the biggest crab caught and the most crab caught. Little Man was a natural with the trap and Trout did really well with the handline/net system and we caught a lot. They let the kids work as a team and we were supposed to be using all their equipment, but one team was using their own traps and nets and most importantly bait, so that one kid caught both the biggest and most crabs. BUT! Since one kid couldn't win both prizes, our kids won for the most crabs. Our prize? Free ice cream!

• Every morning I was awakened not by an alarm clock or the sound of door slamming and cars starting, but by the soft cooing of mourning doves and the squawking of ducks as they fished for their breakfast on the sound.

• I went fishing for the first time, and I caught an eel!

I hate snakes, worms squick me out, and pretty much anything without feet or fins gives me the willies, so I wouldn't touch it. BDF tried to get it off the hook but he said it was too slimy, so we ended up cutting the line and letting it go. The whole rest of the day whenever anyone saw us with our fishing poles they asked "Catch anything?" and I'd tell them I caught an eel, and every single one responded with "Well, where is it? That's good eating." Blech.

Cons:

• The mosquitoes were insane. They seemed impervious to deet, and even BDF who usually isn't affected by the buggers was eaten alive. All told we probably have 400 bites among the six of us, and I wish that was an exaggeration. The kids legs all look like they had the measles or something.

• Although I had sunblocked all of us within an inch of our lives, I evidently underestimated how much would get washed off by getting wet while kayaking. And apparently I missed a spot:

It looks like I'm wearing extremely strange leg warmers on only half my leg. It's only just now not hurting anymore.

• While the lovely ducks and mourning doves woke me gently every morning, they also woke Nemo. Since someone had to get up with him to keep him quiet until quiet hours were over, we did a lot of him darting around the camp ground while I staggered half zombified after him, hissing at him to keep him quiet. I didn't sleep much on this trip.

• A line of thunderstorms came through about 4am Sunday morning. The kids and BDF slept through them for the most part, but I couldn't sleep. The tents leaked. The nice young guy at the camp store checked the forecast for us, and since they were calling for more storms, we packed up our wet tents and bugged out. We drove home through the really severe storms Sunday night, reinforcing that we made the right decision to come home  a day early.

We've been back for a week and still haven't finished unpacking. It'll probably take another week just for me to catch up on sleep. All in all, it was worth it, and despite the bugs, we're probably going to go back again sometime. Maybe in January.