Views on Camping

           
                                            
Views around the house, just before leaving.

                                   
View from the car on the way.


View in the car.  (Jonathan was in the way back and was sleeping when these pics were taken.

                
Okay.  So we get there, set up the campsite, make and eat dinner, etc.  As it starts to get dark we turn the lantern on and, unsurprisingly, it draws some bugs.  Surprisingly, the bugs stick around.  They bump into the lamp, crash onto the table and stay.  And more of them come, and they stay.  There are something like 30 of them, totally placid, hanging out in the light of our lantern.  It’s not until much later, after the kids are in bed, that it occurs to me that the lantern is downwind of all the smoke from our campfire.  The smoke seems to have drugged them.  The really awful part?  As soon as the fire died down, the still-intoxicated beetles got just enough energy back to dive bomb the embers.  Every single one of them.  We made sure their carcasses were well-burned so we wouldn’t have to explain mass suicide to the kids the next morning.  The whole thing was very, very bizarre.

            
Having rid the campsite of bugs, we start out the next morning for some new adventures, challenges and explorations.

                               
Science class: bark textures . . .

 
(See?)

counting wood rings . . .

                          
and the unusual behaviors of transplanted wildlife.

                    
Good little nature observers.

                    
Of course, we might see more if they were . . . well . . . quieter, but we work with what we get.

                             
And what we got this afternoon was a stop at the nature center with some nice views on the way back.
                     Thank you cameraman!


Rock climbing might have to be considered our new family sport.

                               
Along with collecting oddities.  That’s a sport, right?

By the way, Pumpkin is demanding a lot of sleep from Mommy which is making it exceedingly difficult to work on the blog.  I may never get caught up . . .  I suppose that’s the price of creating cuties like these.

And on that note, g’night all!