I Am Going Camping

Jeesh! Has another summer passed without our family officially going camping? Well, with the temperatures continuing to break record highs, maybe we still have a chance. I'd like that, though I wish we weren't quite so hot and dry. Last night we had one of those incredible neon pink sunsets granted only when forest fire smoke clouds the horizon. Terrifying beauty.


If we do make it into a tent, maybe we can Griswald-ly sing this song. It was on one of the many coloring sheets that arrive on my kitchen table from somewhere. I'm copying down the lyrics, so this sheet can become tomorrow's grocery list.

I Am Going Camping

(to the tune of I'm a Little Teapot)

I am going camping (point to self)

Time to pack (look at watch)

My tent, my bedroll, (make tent with hands, then fold hands)

And a snack. (pretend to eat)

I'll sit by the campfire (warm hands over a fire)

Its glow so bright. (wiggle fingers for fire)

Then snooze in my tent (pretend to snore, head on hands)

'Til the morning light! (open eyes wide, forming sun over head.)

We have had some great "day camping" experiences. You know, when you don't have to pitch the tent only to a) get a few hours of fitful sleep after finally deciding who's sleeping on which stretch of lumpy ground and several hundred trips to the bathroom in the great outdoors, or b) unpitch that tent by flashlight and firelight at 11pm, while trying not to wake the kids who just got to sleep but one of whom seems to have developed a forest-fever delirium.

Oh, that's just our family? Huh.

Kay, we'll have to try again.