As I said in my last post, we were going camping on Friday. I'm fine with camping. I'm not a seasoned camper, but I enjoy it - mostly because my kids love it and, for our family, it's usually just an overnight thing. The plan was this: I'll stay until the kids are tucked in their sleeping bags, then I'll leave and be back by 7-ish for breakfast. The campsite was only 20 minutes away from our house, so no biggie.
We had been told by those who had organized the event that if you arrive to the campsite after dark, the gate will be locked and the person at the gate will not allow anyone into the campsite unless someone already inside allows the "outsider" in. As far as leaving was concerned, their were no problems.
This wasn't the case.
And after the campfire songs & s'mores,
And after the monkeys were tucked in,
I kissed everyone good-bye, pulled my car out of the parking area and headed for the gate. A little something inside of me was telling me that my plans for curling up on my couch with my book after a long hot bath was not in my near future like I had hoped.
The gate was closed with a chain and padlock...no attendant was anywhere to be seen.
Are you kidding me? I'm 8 1/2 months pregnant!
I drove back.
As I approached our 3-man tent (we hadn't packed our 10-man because I wasn't staying), I was actually laughing. This is how our conversation went:
Me: Knock, knock...will you let a pregnant lady in?
Steven: Did you get lost? You just take a right at the next intersection.
Me: No, the gate's locked.
Ste: No one's there?!
Me: Nope.
Ste: What about a call box?
Me: Nope.
Ste: Do you want me to go double check.
Me: That's awful sweet of you, but I'm sure that the padlock won't allow you out either.
Bradley: YAY! MOMMY'S STAYING!
Ste: Wait, hold on. You don't have anything.
Me: Yup, I know.
Ste: No sleeping bag, no change of clothes, toothbrush, nothing.
Me: Ya, I get it.
Ste: Mindy, I'm soooo sorry.
Our air mattress had torn during a move, so we slept on top of two blankets and a sleeping bag with a towel for a pillow. I didn't sleep very well. We'll leave it at that.
Oh wait, are you ready for the cherry on top?
The next morning as I moved our camping chairs, I found this:
Oh, I'm sorry, did you not see it well enough? Okay, here you go:
At breakfast, it quickly spread that I had had to stay the night. One of the men there had brought his boat and said, "Well, if you can do that, you can definitely come wakeboarding with some of us. When will you be ready?"Um...ha, ha?
I hurt.
12 comments:
Oh my goodness! What a trooper you are! I laughed the whole blog! Thanks for sharing your fun story and it makes me so excited to go camping!
Oh my heck! I went camping when I was like 5 months pregnant and it wasn't tooo bad, but I would have DIED at 9 mos! You are a trooper and I think you deserve a purple heart for that! I hope you get un-sore soon (can we say soak-in-the-tub?)
that is super funny!!!
Oh, Mindy. You have all my sympathies! Sleeping in your own bed at 8 1/2 months pregnant is hard enough! But you have the best attitude of anyone I know!
ya, once the experience is over, we can all get a laugh...you are such a trooper, girl!
Sounds like quiet the adventure! You deserve a massage after being such a good sport!
Suck it up! Being pregnant is soooo easy. I could do it in my sleep.
On a side note, if they locked the gate then you would have a nice false imprisonment claim. Was there another exit or did they really lock everyone in the campsite? What if someone had an accident?
Steven did say, "What if you go into labor tonight?"
Apparently there's a guy who lives in his RV right by the gate. He's the one that is in charge of locking and unlocking. I just felt like a loser/wimp asking him at 10:30 at night to unlock the gate. Besides, at the time I wasn't SURE if he was responsible. Totally awkward if I knock on his door so late!
You are so funny! I love it. I went camping when I was about 7 months pregnant, and I didn't sleep the entire night. Good thing you didn't get bit!
Hey...totaly off topic, but Marlo Pond says, "I think about you all the time. I have thought about e-mailing you 300,000 times, but I have 300,000 kids. I am thinking about you and miss you."
What a story! I'm glad you survived, I can't imagine sleeping on the floor right now... and I'm glad you didn't go into labor, although it certainly would have added even more excitement to your story!
You're a trooper, Mindy! That was a great story-- too bad it was at your expense! Too funny.
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