Camping Adventure

Last weekend we finally managed to put together a camping trip after many requests from the kids. We went to a new spot that Mark found while camping with the scouts near a gentle stream where we thought the kids would be able to play. The kids thought it was great and had a fabulous time playing in the water for 2 days straight, despite the "refreshing" temperature of the water.

We also had a little adventure! First, there are two things you need to know, #1) I like to sleep on the side of the mattress that's open to the tent with Mark next to the tent wall, so it's easiest for me to get out of bed first. #2) Mark had already "cried wolf" once in the night about some critter being outside (really, it probably was our little friend but when we checked, neither of us saw anything). And I had been up once to get Owen back into bed so I'd already been up and out of bed twice in the night and wasn't getting much sleep when I was in bed so by the time our little adventure took place I was wanting nothing more than to get some sleep!

So that is my mindset when Mark wakes me up, just after dawn (it's light enough to see without a flashlight) and says he hears something outside. I can hear it too so I decide to just cut to the chase and get up, open the tent door, and chuck something at the dirty racoon that is obviously out there in the cooler 5 feet away. However, when I open the tent door it is not a racoon that greets me but instead it's a BEAR looking back at me. I promptly closed up the door and said, "it's a bear." In my mind I'm thinking, you can take what you want because I am not having anything to do with that! Mark, thankfully, had a little more presence of mind and opened the window he was near, clapped his hands, and yelled at it. I opened the door again to see if it would run away. It did, for a little ways but then it stopped. Presumably to see how serious we were and if there was still a chance he could come back for the goods. So I think "crap, he's deciding if he can come back!" The only thing I could think to do was grab the flashlight to shine at him and try to scare him (I wish I had thought to get the camera instead!). It was right about this time that the dog finally came to life and so just as I shined the light at him and he starts running away again, the dog goes running after him barking her head off. That makes him stop and turn back to look at the dog so we start calling for the dog to come back because we don't want her to get in a fight with him. Finally I guess he decided it wasn't worth it and ran off. By this point Mark and I are wide awake, the kids, however, slept through the whole thing (wouldn't it be nice to sleep like that!). They thought we were fibbing them when we told them about it the next morning, until they saw the evidence. In the end all he got was a juice box, which he dropped during the escape.