Camping - Part III

Contrary to what you may think, camping is no cheap vacation.  My grocery bill alone this year come to over four hundred dollars (sorry Eric!) and that does not include the hundred dollars I spent at the butcher. And somehow, eight days into our trip, we were totally out of food except for some boxes of Kraft Dinner which we had already eaten for lunch. So, we decided on that eighth day that it would be a good idea to go out for dinner with friends and all of the kids.

Have I not yet learned that these ideas are always better left as thoughts only? Haven’t I learned that my children are notoriously misbehaved in restaurants – highlighting for everyone my parenting deficiencies? 

The dinner stared out with normal behavioural infractions followed by empty threats like, “Sit down or we’re leaving!” 

At one point, before dinner was even served, my youngest needed to go to the bathroom and her sister volunteered to take her. Lovely. Way to be responsible and helpful I thought to myself. See, I am a good parent I mused. About thirty seconds later my two year old appeared before us (and all of the other restaurant patrons) stark naked.  Clearly, she had been put up to this by her mischievous older sister.

There was a small lapse of time, the babe continuing to laugh in all her nakedness, while Eric and I stared in shock, then in shame and then at each other wondering which was of us was going to budge first and claim the streaker.

I somehow lost the battle and scooped her up and went straight to the bathroom to get her clothing which was scattered all over the bathroom floor (gross).  I took her outside to get her dressed again.

The evening settled back to the regular shenanigans we would again expect. You know, the older two telling the streaker not to say nipple or bum or boobies so that she would repeat those words at the top of her lungs. Honestly. Where did we go wrong? I may never win a parenting award but I will surely always have great stories to tell around the campfire.