Camping

Yes, the Wangs went camping in Mendocino with 7 other families in September.

What possessed us to do this, I do not know. I think we were trying to pretend a bit that we are a normal family who can just pack up and live outdoors a couple of nights, no big deal. But it turns out it was much more difficult than we anticipated, even when everything was so fantastically planned for us and all we had to do was bring ourselves and a few supplies.

We got a late start and hit traffic through Marin County. By the time we got to the camp site, it was pitch black and took us approximately 4 1/2 hours to get there. I remember commenting to John that if we added another hour or so to our drive, we could've driven to LA.
With our friends' help, we were able to set up our tent and get the girls to bed with little trouble. However, sleeping through the night seems to have been lost and forgotten during this trip.
The first night Sydney woke up only once or twice. The 2nd night, she woke every few minutes because it was sooooo freezing cold. It had rained a little during the day and cooled things down dramatically. And Sydney is what I call an independent sleeper. She likes to sleep completely by herself with no one near her or touching her. So I would hold her next to me to keep her warm, but eventually she would cry and want to sleep alone. But sleeping alone left her freezing cold, even wearing 3 layers of pajamas. So we didn't sleep much at night. Major apologies to all of our camping neighbors!

We did have a lot of fun hiking (although we never made it to the waterfall), and Lauryn loved picking flowers with all of her friends. Sydney spent most of her time in the Burley trailer, which turned out to be most useful as a makeshift playpen for the younger kids (and older too), and as a wagon for carrying camping gear and supplies. It even made a debut as a shower caddy.

I do have to mention one strangely amusing moment. As we were packing up to go home, one of the kids, Josh, was playing very contentedly by himself while he waited for his parents. He was also humming a strangely familiar tune over and over at the top of his lungs. I listened to him for several minutes and finally, it dawned on me! Earth, Wind and Fire! He was humming the song, September over and over and over. I don't know. For some reason, it made me feel really old. But it was also really cool to hear a 4 year old humming such a classic oldie. Try imaging one of your kids humming that instead of Hi-5 and you'll see what I'm talking about.