Memorial Weekend

Sorry for the lag in posts, dear readers-- I'm usually a bit more consistent than once a month, but hopefully this little beauty makes up for it. I couldn't even bring myself to talk about it and relive the horrors until today, so here goes! This past holiday weekend Jonathan got Friday and Monday off, so we decided to try camping.

Camping is one of those American past times, right? Like baseball? It's fun? But I think the Camping Gods are still angered at us for some reason. The two times we went in Pennsylvania we got rained out and flooded, and then last year we discovered the dual personalities of Marshmallow Man and Chimney Sweep and got 0 sleep thanks to naughty kids. I swore camping off, but since it'd been a year and my memory tends to wane I caved. And because it's cheap entertainment. And the kids can get dirty. And I don't have to clean the house or do dishes for a whole weekend.

We headed up to Mt. Charleston where it's always 30 degrees cooler than in Vegas, so the weather was a perfect 65 degrees, we'd gotten there early enough to select a prime spot, and the kids were in heaven playing in the dirt. Zachary worked hard loading up the fire pit with wood, then unloading it back into the box. Repeating it 50 times.

We played a few rounds of Skip Bo, discovered our new camping neighbors had like 15 dogs who only responded to Russian, and when it started getting dark we made a fire and roasted hot dogs for dinner, of which Lucy downed two (this is important to remember for later). Oh yeah, she also had like half a watermelon. Looks cute and harmless, huh?

Then we roasted S'mores, which for me is the main event. Jon has some serious roasting skills and gets 'em just the way I like 'em. Mmmmmm. Apparently Lucy likes them too because she had like 4 or 5....

Our bellies full and with the sounds of Lucy's comment that this was her "Best. Day. Ever," we headed to the tent for bed. Trying to be mindful of the other tents surrounding us 20 yards in any direction, we tried to get the kids quickly and quietly to bed-- and they cooperated for once! I love camping! But here's where things got dicey. Groggy and with my mind in a fog, I vaguely remember Lucy waking up a couple of hours later crying, "My tummy hurts! My tummy hurts!" I hear the muffled sounds of Jonathan trying to get untangled from his sleeping bag quickly so he can dump her out of the tent before the inevitable happens. I may be a little slow now and then, but don't think I don't know my kids will gag and puke for the smallest of reasons. We are constantly surrounded by the threat of public upchuck incidents. In the back of my mind I can remember thinking "Pull off her pillow case and have her throw up in that!" but it was pitch black and cold and I was trying to keep Zachy asleep (as well as the rest of the campground), and it was not to be. I heard the ZZZZZip of the door, and the half ZZZZZip of the bottom, and then BLLLLLEEEEEEECCCCHHHH!!!! Then twice more. And add Jon's anguished "Noooo!!!" to the sound track. Unfortunately our darling Lucy must have turned her head while barfing because it sprayed EVERYWHERE. All over herself and her sleeping bag, all over Jon and his $75 polar fleece and his sleeping bag, all over BOTH air mattresses we had in the tent, and all over the floor of the tent. I don't even know why this surprises me anymore.... Jon calls it the "Cardon Specialty."

(How we slept that night-- all 4 on the mattress in every direction and only 2 quilts.)
We stripped her down BAWLING and put her in bed with Zachary (who thank heavens was still sleeping) and she feel asleep in about 10 seconds which just added insult to injury for Jon, who was trying to assess the damage. We figured it was probably only midnight, so we could still pack up and head home, since we were down half of our clothes and bedding. Or, we could try and make due with all 4 of us on our little double air mattress which is what we did. Jon who was down to just his garments then had to mop up the barf with wet wipes-- and let me just say that it was DISGUSTING. That stuff will haunt my dreams forever. Partially digested hot dogs and s'mores. Shudder. He dry heaved a couple of times, so at that point I started laughing hysterically because I figure you can either laugh or cry. All in all we were putting on a pretty good show for our nearby neighbors. Jon chucked everything stinky out the tent door, zipped it up and try to squeeze on the mattress with the whole family and we spend the rest of the night tossing and turning and freezing. At the crack of dawn Lucy was up chipper and happy as always. Then we reminded her of the barf debacle and she sank back into her sleeping bag and said, "I'm embarrassed!" Hmph.

The aftermath! Two sleeping bags, two air mattresses, and lots of clothes and wet wipes didn't make it out alive.

This is her without any pajamas, wrapped in a blanket by the fire to stay warm, complete with dried barf in her hair. Love you Lucy!! At that point I didn't even want to try to cook breakfast, I just wanted to GET. HOME. NOW. and begin the mountain of laundry that awaited me. I even considered asking the Russians if they'd trade their 15 dogs for our 2 kids, but they actually packed up and took off faster than we did. They must have heard everything the night before. What's that you say, Mom and Dad?? Karma's a what?!? Oh yeah. It is that. Apparently I puked in my Uncle John's brand new (3 day old) truck while camping, so I suppose I had it coming.

Luckily Whitney decided to save our weekend and my sanity by showing up Saturday afternoon, and took a very sheepish Lucy to the movie Rio while I cleaned. We then got pizza for dinner, got U-Swirl, and watched the new "Star Trek."

Monday morning we decided to get brunch at the Wicked Spoon which was crazy good! Do you see this dessert plate I'm pounding down?!? Chocolate covered strawberries, fudge, a whole case full of different gelattos, chocolate delicacies, pastries, cheesecake, crepes, etc. They're known for having really unique items all individually portioned and they sure didn't disappoint.

That evening we had a BBQ with our good friends the Kelly's who recently graduated from dental school in Philly and are visiting family here before they move to Page, AZ. We love seeing them!! This is Taylin and Zachy eating hot dogs-- they are about 6 months apart in age.

Jon grilled the burgers and did a GREAT job-- it being only his second time and all. I think I officially LOVE having him cook!


Just like old times! Dixon and Lucy hanging out on the trampoline. They seem to have picked up right where they left off. I can officially say Memorial weekend certainly ended better than it began!