Morice Camping 2008

Camping Day Two
June 29, 2008

It’s the end of day two and the scourge of my existence has begun croaking again. He apparently sleeps peacefully all day long until I’m ready to put Selah to sleep. So, I type while she tries to doze and he begins to croak.

My mother told me a story that when she was young, her brothers would hammer long nails through a 2 x 4 until they had them all poking out the other side. I assume it must have looked like some torturous version of a toothbrush. Then they would go “frog hunting”. They would quietly wade through the edge of the pond or creek until a large bullfrog was found. Then they would “whack” him with the crude instrument of death and my grandmother would reward them with fried frog legs. Tony says he’s going right out to buy wood and nails.

Anyways, I digress…..

Today both Tony and Cody got up early and went out fishing. They collect all their gear, got dressed (I think in the reverse order) and headed down the long trail to Lake Puckaway. They set up and began casting until Cody said, “we’re not gonna catch any fish today. They’re not biting. I can tell.” Tony wondered how he could possibly have ascertained that in the short amount of time they were sitting there. He figured maybe Cody thought time was passing slowly. So, he asked and Cody said, “We’ve been here for 30 minutes with no bites so I know they’re not biting today.”

Apparently it wasn’t the time he had estimated incorrectly – he was right, it was about 30 minutes. But he had a very skewed understand of how long it takes to fish. So, instead they caught a caterpillar and a tadpole and called it a day. Originally, we said we’d only eat what Cody caught – I guess I’m going hungry today.

Then we did house cleaning, washed laundry, took showers and went on a long trip to find a place for lunch (it was 11:30 by the time all was said and done). But while we were cleaning up we had time to look around the camp ground and found a nice park,

basketball court and a heated swimming pool.

Those things are definitely on the list of things to do for tomorrow! They also had recumbent bikes to rent and we got one for Cody to ride around on a bit.

He had a blast!

Then we all came home for naps since Mr. Frog allowed no sleep last night. When we woke, we just hung out, Tony fished some more (Cody assisted occasionally), and Selah snacked. Then we took Cody out for a surprise….the local movie theater was showing Kung Fu Panda. We bought tickets, popcorn for four, three drinks and milk duds for under $25 dollars! That was fun!

So, now we’re back to camp…Tony and Cody are cooking hot dogs over the fire, Selah’s trying to keep her eyes open, I’m typing and Mr. Frog is saying “hello”.

More tomorrow!

Camping 2008 Day One
June 28, 2008

Day one of the Morice 2008 camping trip!

Friday we picked up the rented camper and Saturday we set out -

I must say we looked cool setting out with our beautiful, fully equipped pop up camper. What could possibly go wrong? No tent stakes to lose, even if it down pours we stay dry and a list two pages long in 12 point font ensures that we couldn’t possibly forget a thing. I have a good feeling about this trip!

Well, the skies were scary on the way. The rain was intense and the camper made driving in the rain so much more fun. But we trudged on with the blind assurance that when we reached the camp site the skies would clear just for us! And they did! Well, until it was time to set up the camper…..

Then the rain began again and the mosquitos found what they were looking for….fresh meat. A neighboring camper even said how much fun they had watching each new resident arrive and spend the next 15 -20 minutes being consumed by mosqitos. The bugs are the worst he’s seen in all his years of camping. Lucky us.

We, of course, packed bug spray but couldn’t locate it for 15 mintues. The bugs had no other victims for 30 miles around apparently. We were attacked instantly and each one of us had bites that made our skin swell to such a degree that it developed a shiny “tauntness” to it. here's a picture of a ggod bite Selah got on her eye...

We were so blessed to be able to nurish the local wildlife! The kids were very happy to seek refuge in the camper once it was up!


We saw some great wildlife, too! A field full of nursing cows – the “little baby moo cows” (as Selah calls them) were really cute. There are some sort of cranes or egrets all around that have young with them as well and deer everywhere.



Also, there was the most beautiful Oriole darting around the lake. I tried to take a picture, but it was too dark. I’ll put the photo up here, but all you can see is the blur of orange.

You’ll have to trust me that the bird was amazing!

Then the skies completely cleared in time to make a fire, cook smores and watch the stars come out.

It’s always so amazing how many more stars they have out in the country! And Tony saw a shooting star! (or so he says. Suspiciously, no one else saw it. Hmm……)

While we were enjoying the stars, a large and noisy bullfrog joined the night chorus. It was so cool to listen to the range of sounds he could make. Until we wanted to sleep….the thing never shut up all night long!!!!! Me, the animal lover, found myself telling Tony that if he had to get up to go to the bathroom at night, bring rocks and hit the frog to quiet him! I’m ashamed to admit it, but he never stopped ALL NIGHT LONG! You’d think he’d have to sleep some time!

Sleeping on matresses instead of cold hard ground is definitly the way to camp. I will never camp any other way! However, sleeping with Selah is HORRIBLE! She wiggles like crazy, but worst of all she grinds her teeth with such intensity I don’t have any idea how she can possibly have teeth left! We have got to contact a dentist about that when we get home!