Camping and Turning 3

It is the day after Wookie’s third birthday, and this morning while we lay in bed listening to the chatter from the boys’ room, Scooby firmly told him, “It’s not your birthday anymore, so you’re not in charge.” It’s tough being five and having your little brother rule the roost for an entire day. Actually, it was more like four days, as we went camping up on Lake Kerr in lieu of a formal birthday party.

Equipped with a new tent, air mattresses, birthday brownies, and big wheels bikes tethered to the top of the Jeep, we managed to survive, even if we did trim the second night off the itinerary. The lake was very high, and the campground “kitchen” was underwater. This was one of the lesser flooded campgrounds around the lake, which is owned by the US Army Corps of Engineers and leased to North Carolina State Parks and Virginia State Parks. Although we brought two tents, we had all four of us in one tent. Joe
and I slept on the air mattresses, and the boys slept head to toe at our
feet. By this fall, I am willing to bet this arrangement won’t work, and one of us will have to forfeit the luxury of the air mattress. Boys do tend to sprout over the summer.

Joe’s sister and her husband brought a canoe they borrorowed from mutual friends. This was the best idea ever, and we’ve already agreed that we need a shared canoe. The boys loved boating, and we made a canoe and inner tube caravan to cross over to an island in the middle of the lake. Everyone else swam while I kept my eyes peeled for snakes. The informational board at the bath house claimed that copper heads were the only poisonous snake on the lake, but thanks to my summer of stream surveying, I’ve seen enough water snakes to never feel comfortable in vegetated waters.

Well, my toddler baby is three, and other than the pullup he still sports, there’s not much baby or toddler left in his lanky limbs. He’s all “Do it myself” and “Watch this!” these days.