Memorial Day Camp Adventure

Friday AM: We eat breakfast, shower, bath the baby...and it's before 10am! We actually got on the road to start our journey at noon, which is an amazing feat. We're never this together. We keep thinking that we've forgotten something. It's raining, but the forcast says it's going to clear. Grips is about 1 hour ahead of us & calls to say that he's in clear weather.

Friday Afternoon: We arrive & begin to set up camp. Our site is right on the water & beautiful! Cass has slept the whole trip out there so she's ready to rock & roll. As Blixx is setting up our new screanhouse, a black cloud comes overhead. I hear "Get up to Grips' camp now. RUN!" I grab Cass & head up the hill, just in time to duck my head in their already built screanhouse before it starts to POUR. It was a quick shower, but intense. Blixx refused to give in to the weather gods & remained out in the wind & rain setting up our camp. What a provider!

Friday Evening: Camp got set up without further incident. There's no more rain, but it's windy as hell at our site, so we migrate to Grip's site to cook dinner & hang out before bedtimes. Grips wife Red (formerly Teacher) made an amazing pasta sause so we all ate that until we were ready to pop. Then came the smores. MMMMMmmmmmm.

Friday Late Night: After putting Cass & Victoria to bed, the real party began. I'd brought a magnum of champagne to celebrate the start of the family camping season & it was awesome! We passed it around, while still drinking beers & smoking whatever was handy. It ended up being me & the boys drinkin late night which is fine by me. DrJim & HighOctane both retired early for the evening, as did Birdgirl. I ended up being the last one out at the fire, making sure it was safe for the night. Still windy, it was beautiful & quiet & peaceful. Of course, Cass woke in the night & was a little freaked that we were outside, but she settled into our armpits & got some rest, finally. I was all shitty, as it was Blixx's night to 'deal' with Cass, but I helped out anyway. He took her to the Jeep to settle her down, then was all like where were you...I was passing out in the tent, dude. Duh!

Saturday: After a huge breakfast, we ate a huge lunch. Then the boys went kayaking (too windy for the canoe, dammit)& we ladies took long naps with our little ones. After naptime, it was our turn to cook so Blixx broke out with the swordfish stirfry & we ate until we were ready to pop, again. Then smores, again. Tadpole & his family came to visit, as well as some of Grip's friends from church. As we're eating dinner, a Ranger comes by to ask us if we'd seen a little girl who was missing from camp. Nope, but we'd give a look around.

Here's where the drama starts. It seems that when the Ranger had stopped at Toad's site, he'd seen the big box of booze & told them it had to be dumped out, as there's a no booze rule at state camp grounds. DrJim gave him some crap, but the Ranger moved on to look for the kid. Later that same evening, another Ranger stopped at their site to verify the empty bottles. Problem is that DrJim (shitfaced already at like 9pm) had just put the box in his car & kept drinking. He mouthed off to the Rangers saying if they were going to keep giving him shit, he'd just drive off if that's what they wanted. I could hear him yelling to the Rangers. His wife is no help either, being that she was hammered as well & trying to negotiate over the booze. Toad was just keeping his head down & stash hidden.

A little while later, the actual police arrive to interview DrJim. He was still lit up & still a loud mouth drunk & still obnoxios to the cops. They were called cuz he had threatened to drive intoxicated. What a fricking fiasco. No arrest was made, thank god, but it was a horrible scene. We all stayed at our sites with our kids, keeping watch with fingers crossed.

Saturday late night: After the kids went to bed, the party was supposed to move to Toad's site, as they had all sorts of cocktails planned. I was a little bummed, as I had to stay at our site to hear the baby, but I figured I'd make a fire & just chill. I also figured that the boys would come visit every now & again. So off they all went. I didn't even have time to get the fire going to my liking, when Blixx & Grips returned saying that DrJim was out of control & that they just wanted some mellow. Cool by me. We did what we do everynight around here, we drank & smoked & told bs stories until late into the evening.

Sunday morning, before coffee: I'm sleeping soundly, baby tucked in my armpit, when I hear "Good Morning! Rangers! I need to speak with Chynakatt, please!" I crawl out of the tent, bleery eyed. You see, the camp site that Toad was staying on had been reserved in my name. He had been out of town when it became available & we knew that we all wanted to camp together, so I just went ahaed & reserved it for him. After all of the drama of the night before, it didn't even occur to me that I could be screwed in any way. Well, it seems I could have been held responsible.
I was totally cool with the Ranger as he explaned that Toad, Birdgirl, DrJim & HighOctane were being asked to leave immediately. I told the Ranger that I completely understood, however I wasn't involved in the drama as I have an 11 month old who I was taking care of. I think I also got points for interupting his tale to ask if the little girl had been found (yep). He said we could be evicted as well and wanted to know if we had any alchohol over on our site. I was honest & said we had some beers. I was counting on the fact that we hadn't restocked to cooler & woo hoo I was right, only 6 in there so I pulled them out for the Ranger. I just told him that we were here with kids & after they went to bed we sat around & had a few beers quietly. He thanked me for being honest & said that we could stay & that he wouldn't fine me for being the person who's name was on the idiots site, or for having beers. He also said he'd be watching us for the rest of our stay & that if he had to come out for any problems, we'd be out on our asses as well. Roger that.

Disaster averted.

DrJim gave a weak apology to Blixx. HighOctane actually tried to defend DrJim to me, to which I held up my hand & walked away. I am so done with those two. They have problems with their marriage, are both going through midlife crisis & bring all this harsh energy to the table when we really just want to relax. It was a shame that Birdgirl & Toad had to leave as well, but since they were the idiots who invited DrJim in the first place, I suppose it was fitting.

Sunday afternoon: I got some coffee, which was excellent. We ate & ate & then ate some more, then we ladies headed out on a kayak adventure. Red, Callista & I piled into the boats and went for a nice long trip around the campground & down to the boat launch. There were a lot of powerboats out on the water, so the wakes were intense to paddle over. Very much like the ocean. Callista isn't an accomplished paddler, but she held her own. Red was having the time of her life playing in the waves - she was like a little kid, & it was wonderful to see her that relaxed. We ate some more when we came back, then it was kids to bed.

Sunday Late Night: The only difference was that we poured our beers into cups and had empty ginger ale cans as props in case the Rangers stopped by. They never stopped, but they dir several drive bys to check on us. Blixx, Dougma & Grips went out on a late night kayak trip & I was so jealous, as the wind had died down & the water was like glass. It was so beautiful. There was some sort of a dance at the private camp ground across the way, so we could hear music drifting across the lake...then they had fireworks! I LOVE FIREWORKS!! I stayed behind at camp & had a huge bonfire by myself & ate like 10 marshmellows & enjoyed the solitude. After the boys left Blixx & I watched the moon set & had a little fun of our own, wink wink nudge nudge.

Monday: We packed up & left. We all stopped for breakfast then headed home. We were going to stop & try to paddle a bit on the way home, but the weather started to look grim so we said eff it and went home. Man o Man I was psyched to see my home shower & kitty cats. I had a ton of fun, but it was good to be home.