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Camping and Pooh Sticks


A few weekends ago we went camping with some friends who have a three year old boy. Jennifer and I have known each other since before we were married so things have changed a bit over the years!

Somehow they got the impression that we were big campers. This trip was the 2nd we've taken with Elisabeth, and our 3rd trip in 2 1/2 years. I don't know if that counts, but in any case, it was a good reason to brave the outdoors for a toddler sized camping trip. We headed to Lake Houston State Park which is petitioning for a name change, as there is no lake in the park. It is also becoming a city park soon, for better or worse. In any case, it is less than an hour from our house, so that is a big plus. Since Elisabeth woke up Friday morning in her crib she started saying, "Doh namping!" (go camping). She said it all day long, as we packed the car, and headed out only to get stuck in traffic. As we sat there on FM 242 (that is Farm to Market) she kept saying, "Doh namping! Doh!" We would tell her that we had to wait for the cars to move before we could move, and she would only say the louder, "Doh!" I said, "When the cars move, we can go fast." So then she said, "Doh fast!" Finally traffic did clear up (fortunately for all of us we were creeping or waiting for less than 15 minutes, but it sure seemed like longer). I said, "Look, Elisabeth, we're going fast." And she laughed in the way that she has that shows that she loves it.

We arrived before dark and John set up our tent while I kept Elisabeth occupied bringing things from the car. This time she kept repeating, "Eat. Eat." I told her we had to wait for Ricky to come, but eventually I gave in, since I did have the food. The picnic table however, was not toddler sized. The table was nearly a foot away from the benches (at least it seemed so to me), impossible for Elisabeth to reach. So she sort of straddled the bench and I put her food on our picnic basket. The next day we did something similar, only behind Elisabeth was a crate of food. When she decided some things in there looked interesting, she leaned over to get some crackers out. But the crate fell on the ground and when I turned around, ELisabeth was falling with it, head first. I had to try not to laugh as my daughter plunged to the ground, the victim of her own folly. Fortunately she was only startled and not hurt.

We took a short walk through green forest with lots of magnolias. The most interesting things we saw were spiders that had strung their large webs across the trail. In order to get Elisabeth to ride in the backback that John carried we told her it was like riding a camel. But sometimes she prefered to just walk. On one such walk, I had sent the guys ahead because we were pretty slow, so it was "just Bitty and Mommy," as she likes to say. I stopped to examine a magnolia tree that still had beautiful green leaves on it even though its trunk was completely hollowed out. Elisabeth followed me and looked also, then she ran to the other side of the trail. I turned to look at her and she looked uncomfortable. When I got closer, I saw that she had encountered her first swarm of fire ants, probably from the tree we looked at. She had ants all over her feet. I called for John, but he was already too far ahead. I started pulling off her shoes and socks, panicing, wondering how many bites she would have. Some ladies who were staying at nearby lodge ran over to help, and with all the comotion I think that scared Elisabeth more than the ants. All in all she had 8 to 10 bites, one of which lasted for several weeks, and I think she is almost disappointed that the ant bite is "aww nawn", all gone.

My favorite part of the trip was this wonderful bridge. I was reluctant to let Elisabeth walk on it by herself, as the railings left much to be desired for safety. But as that is part of the fun of it, I finally gave in, but tended to hold onto her shirt as much as possible. Once we taught Elisabeth how to play "Pooh Sticks" she didn't want to stop. We even made a special trip to the bridge for that purpose. What can be more fun than dropping sticks off a bridge? (She didn't seem to understand the part about watching it come out the other side, and definitely we need to work on her understanding of upstream and downstream). Watching Elisabeth and Ricky play was a delight. They enjoyed the sand and filling up the watering can in the creek. And of course, smores. As you can see, they are very serious about it!
We hope to go again soon. The Kirks loved it so much they planned to go for Thanksgiving. Haven't heard how that went!

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