Camping in the Rain

If you ever have the perception that the internet is a dangerous place where weird people are lurking, you should stop and read this story.

Back in 2010 sometime after Cole was born, Randalin found my blog and posted a comment. She was a new reader, so I went over to her blog and found that she was the same person as me, only she was living in Canada. No really. Okay, not the SAME person, but you get the drift. She consulted Dr. Sears and the internet and she had a son named Kale. She breastfed and baby wore. Her baby would not sleep through the night. She was all kinds of relatable. We became blogging friends over the next two years. She reads my blog on a regular basis and is one of the only people who comments regularly. (In fact, she's probably one of three people reading this right now.) She's inspired me in so many ways  - to look into different methods of teaching, connecting and playing with Cole - Montessori being one of them. She's inspired me to reflect on my parenting style and she's inspired me to buy many awesome products for Cole (much to the chagrin of my frugal husband). Hey, if her son (who is three weeks older than mine) likes it, chances are very good that Cole will like it, too. 

Sometime during the school year, I suggested we go on a camping trip together (we had tossed the idea around last summer when we traded toddler camping tips). She was all for it. So we picked a location and the day after school let out, Keith and I headed up to Lowville, NY to meet our Canadian counterparts (as he refers to them).

It was cold, it was rainy and it was windy. But it was a blast. I discovered that camping with two 2-year-olds is much more fun than camping with one. True, they fought over each other's toys or sticks or whatever they found that they each thought was theirs, but there were some amazingly funny and heartwarming moments that I will not soon forget. Like when they danced around the campfire and giggled with glee. Or when Cole pushed Kale around the campground in an umbrella stroller. Or when Kale helped Randalin with the dishes and Cole helped Kale by squeezing water from the sponge all over his raincoat sleeve. Or when they tried to figure out how the campsite water spout worked and why there was no water coming out from it. Or when Cole said "I love chocolate" with a maniacal grin on his chocolate covered smore face. Or when Kale's face was completely covered in marshmallow and he gladly posed for a picture.

And the best part about it all was that we made new real life friends. 

I think we both took a risk deciding to meet each other in person. Who knows how things like that can work out? Sometimes your online persona can be vastly different from your offline persona. I'd venture to say though that Randalin is much like me, especially when it comes to blogging. She writes from the heart (and writes exceedingly well). She is also honest, and she is also really funny. (Well, I guess you're the judge of whether I'm really as funny as I think I am). That means she was the same person in real life that I met over the Internet. By the end of the trip, we were talking about a future trip to Guelph to visit them and they were talking about coming to NY again.

The lowdown of the trip:

Where:

We stayed at Whetstone Gulf State Park in Lowville, NY (the capital of Lewis County). It's a really pretty campground whose center is a creek they turns into a gorge. We soon discovered this was also the heart of New York's dairy industry (I did not even realize we had one).  There were dairy farms everywhere -from small to large scale. And Kraft Foods was located in the heart of the town. Lowville, NY is also southwest of the Adirondacks. So around our campground were several "wilderness areas." Unfortunately, we didn't see much of them because of the lousy weather.

When:

We stayed from Saturday afternoon to Tuesday morning.

Who:

The Canadians and The Americans. First we were at two adjacent sites that were separated by small bushes and trees. Thus, we couldn't really join our sites. So on Sunday, we asked to be moved and found the two most perfect sites that were huge, had tons of gorgeous tall pines, and were totally open.  They were also still very close to the bathroom (which is always a huge plus for me, since I always have to pee in the middle of the night).

What:

On Sunday we set up camp at the new sites, made a living room of sorts for when the rain hit using a giant tarp and ratchet ties (thanks to Kris for this genius idea!) and set up our EZ Up canopy for the "kitchen." Keith and I bought some rain pants and boots on Monday when it was clear the rain was not letting up and the air was just getting colder. We had one sunny morning and afternoon. That's when Kris and Keith (did I mention they became instant BFFs?) took Kale and Cole to the "beach" for a swim. The rest of the time, we just kind of chilled out, drank beer, watched the children play, and roasted marshmallows. We also took more trips to Walmart in one weekend than I'm sure either of us take in a month or a year. It was so relaxing that at one point, Randalin and I didn't even remember what day it was.

Below are way too many awesome pictures from our trip.

Unless he's in the photo, Keith took them all.

Fast Friends: Cole, Kale, and Kris

"I love chocolate!"

Roasting his first marshmallow on the only warm night of the trip

Roasting his second marshmallow

Kale washes dishes while Cole fakes it (yes, you read that right - Kale washes dishes)

Sweet boy

Mama Randalin (as Cole calls her) and Kale

It's very hard to take a group picture in which one or more toddlers is not blinking, shoving his hand in his mouth, talking, or looking the other way. But we managed.

Let the fun begin.

Cole's shows off his dance moves.

Jump up, jump up, and get down!

Cuteness meets s'mores. Result? Ultra cuteness.

Roasting marshmallows, sitting around the fire, and making s'mores was the highlight of each evening.

Cole stopped wanting to eat the marshmallows he roasted, so I offered him a cantaloupe.

If you looked up from our campfire, this is what you saw. Spectacular isn't it?

A Mama/Cole moment

"Ah Mama, can you help me please?"

Kale seems much more reassured by the presence of two adults, doesn't he?

The Canadians.