Happy Campers

The Mr. and I took the kiddos camping.  What fun!  The wildlife was... er... friendly.  We had multiple nocturnal visits from Swampy the Raccoon and his sidekick Stinky, near-constant daytime companionship from Nutso the Insanely Brave Chipmunk, and we even had a pair of slugs (Sluggy and Leroy) attach themselves to the side of our tent.  Ahhh, wildlife.

I guess that campers in Wisconsin State Forests are doing their part to embolden the raccoons.  On the first night, one or two of them were noisily trying to break in to our second tent (we always put up two - a larger one for sleeping in and a smaller one for the kids to play in.  It keeps all the dirt and sand from their darling little feet off of my pillow).  On the second night, as The Mr. stayed up tending the fire, Swampy provided the distraction while Stinky opened our cooler (yes, the raccoon opened the cooler.  Without benefit of opposable thumbs even) and absconded with an unopened package of English muffins.  I almost heard him shouting "Victoryyyyyy!" as he fled into the woods.  Almost.

Same goes for the chipmunks.  Nutso stationed himself in the firewood bundle under our picnic table, and darted out (sometimes directly under Wunderkind's chair) to catch the crumbs.  Pretty smart to target the 4 1/2 year old.  I can imagine the Chipmunk Gathering Committee's Annual Strategy Meeting.  "Hang out by the short ones!  They're less dangerous and they tend to drop more!  Plus, they're more likely to give you the peanuts out of their trail mix."  Evil (and cute!) genius.

Speaking of the peanuts from the trail mix, we observed and recorded Nutso stuffing thirteen (yes, 13) dry-roasted peanuts into his cheeks.  It was unreal.  His head was bigger than the rest of his body.  When I asked Wunderkind what he thought Nutso was going to do with all those peanuts, he replied, "I think he's going to eat them while he watches a movie!"  Oh, didn't you know?  Apparently chipmunks now have some pretty impressive home theatre technology available to them.

The mosquitoes were, of course, out in full force.  I've most likely started some sort of genetic anomaly in my children, given the amount of DEET I applied to their little bodies in the past 3 days.  No ticks, though, so that's good.

We had such fun.  I'm home every day with the kids, but there's something about camping that really seals the bond.  The forced togetherness without benefit of technology may have something to do with it (thank you, Wisconsin, for not offering WiFi at any state parks.  Good call.) or maybe it's the novelty of hiking in the woods ("the ominous woods," Wunderkind corrects me) and playing in the crashing surf of Lake Michigan ("I'm going to call it the ocean," says Wunderkind) for the first time this year.  Could be the extra hand holding and snuggles around the campfire.  Maybe it's the magic of s'mores and pudgie pies.  Could be any of those things, most likely it's all of those things, plus getting to see all of it for the first time all over again through your child/ren. 

I'm glad to be home and clean and sleeping in my own bed tonight, but I'd be lying if I told you that I won't be thinking fondly of Swampy & Stinky... and Nutso... and even Sluggy & Leroy tonight.  May they feast upon English muffins and peanuts all of their days.