Ohmyword. We had the worst camping trip ever. Honestly, I felt sorry for the people camped next to us. They must have thought we were camping newbies instead of experienced campers who’ve been camping for 10 years or more.
When we got up on Friday(4th of July) it just started off bad. You know how that is sometimes- you can just tell it’s going to be a bad day? I even said to Kip- you know, maybe we shouldn’t go. huh. Unfortunately we went. And bad things happened.
#1. Rough Napping situation. Little/No Naps=Cranky children.
#2. I burned dinner. As in, charcoal briquets burned. As in hockey pucks burned. Completely burned and ruined. I never burn dinner. I know how to cook over an open fire. We were supposed to have Marinated Italian Chicken, Fingerling Potatoes and Onions, Marinated Veggies- Red, Yellow and Orange Peppers and Tomatoes. The only thing that made it out alive were the peppers. We ended up using the hotdogs that I had planned for Saturday nights dinner.
#3. Savannah threw up twice.
#4. And here’s the really bad one. So, earlier in the day we had gone down to see the Dog Costume Contest and Mary had been skipping along down the road singing “we’re going on an adventure, we’re going on an adventure….” remember that for later in the story.
So- after the burned dinner fiasco, we were cleaning up the hotdog mess, putting away the condiments and getting ready to go down to the live music concert on the lake. We had some three wick citronella candles going on the picnic table to ward off the bugs. Kip blew out the candles and then turned around to do something- throw away a piece of trash or pick up something, I don’t know. I was also standing right there just doing general pick up. Mary started to climb up onto the seat of the picnic table and fell off. When she started to fall, she reached up to grab the table and instead grabbed the candle that had just been blown out. She pulled it over onto herself dumping hot wax on top of her head and all down her neck, shoulders and back. She was screaming- it was the most horrible sound I’ve ever heard. Luckily, we had a whole gallon jug of water sitting right there on the table and I picked it up and dumped it over her head. Pulled her clothes off, grabbed a towel and our bathroom bag (both were sitting right there) and took off running for the bathroom. I put her in under the shower and started scrubbing her head, neck, shoulders and back. The worst area was on the back of her head- kind of the crown area. Wax was at least a 1/4 inch thick. It was holding the heat in and Mary was beyond hysterical. The warm water from the shower softened the wax some so I dumped my shampoo on her head and started scrubbing and scratching away the wax. The shampoo was dripping in her eyes and which made her scream all the more because it was stinging her eyes. She was beyond hysterical- totally nonsensical. At one point she was sobbing/screaming and said “MOMMY! THIS IS THE SADDEST ADVENTURE EVER!” I was so upset, I was sick. It was all I could do to not cry and throw up myself but I thought if I descended into hysteria it would only add to her distress. It was awful. Eventually I was able to get the majority of the wax out between the shower, the shampoo and a fine tooth comb. She was NOT BURNED, thank God.
#5. After the above horribleness, we went back to the campsite. Mary was calmed down and still wanting to see the band and fireworks. My brother had decided to come up and camp with us so Kip took the two big kids down the the lake for the band and fireworks. I was supposed to wait for my brother to get there and then we would all meet down at the lake and watch fireworks together. My brother, his girlfriend and I got down to the lake just as the fireworks were starting. I spent ten minutes looking everywhere and couldn’t find Kip and the kids. Turned out that when the fireworks started Mary FLIPPED OUT. Just lost it again. She was terrified of the noise. So Kip put the big kids back in the van, drove them back up to the campsite and put them to bed. We must have just missed each other. So Mary had yet another traumatic event and Kip and I didn’t even get to watch the fireworks together.
We got up Saturday morning and, instead of staying until Sunday as planned, packed everything up and were out of there by 8:40am. We stopped for some breakfast and to run into my favorite gift shop and were still home by 11:30am on Saturday morning.
Puddy, in all her gorgeous cuteness.
There was SOME fun during the camping trip: The campground was great. We always camp at Raccoon Holler in Glendale Springs, NC. Beautiful campground, clean and quiet. Bathrooms are very clean and have individual hot showers. Outlets at the sink. Because even when camping I’ve got to shower, wash my hair, dry and fix it. 
Here’s some pictures from their website: Pictures Link
For Fourth Of July, they had kids activities starting at 10am, which we missed. Watermelon eating contest, face painting, games, etc. Later they had a Dog Costume Contest.
In the afternoon they had a Golf Cart Parade- I have to say, I wasn’t expecting much but it was AWESOME! They probably had 40 golf carts or more all decorated to the hilt. They threw tons of candy. Mary and Nathan were thrilled.
That night they had live bluegrass music and fireworks on the lake. Which would have been nice. 
Oh- and the town of Glendale Springs has “Christmas in July” that weekend so everyone has yard sales, etc. One of the golf carts in the parade had a Santa on it. Mary and Nathan thought they were seeing the REAL Santa and were just beside themselves. The golf cart driver even stopped for a minute so the kids could talk to Santa. I thought that was nice.
However. It will be a LONG, LONG, LONG time before this family goes camping again.
