Cabin Camp-Out

Just before summer began, the girls and I made a list of 50 activities we want to do this summer. I'm not confident we are going to get through them all, but one of the most important to them was that we go camping. Hmmm ... third trimester and camping? Not a good mix. As a compromise, we took them up in the mountains to D's parents' cabin. D set up the tent and they slept in it, while Queenie and I slept peacefully IN BEDS in the cabin. That was the plan, but Smidget ended up being feverish and miserable, so she slept inside with us too.

We played Monopoly and Killer Bunnies, ate some yummy treats (everyone but me, of course--more on that in another post), roasted hot dogs and marshmallows (I did 'accidentally' down four of these which may or may not have put my fetus into a sugar coma), and tie-dyed t-shirts. Tie-dying was also on our 50 things list, as was roasting marshmallows and playing frisbee, both of which we accomplished. We attempted star-gazing as well (D even bought a great app for the ipad) but sadly there were way too many trees.

In the morning, we ate crepes and then played horseshoes, velcro ball and frisbee. The girls rediscovered a caterpillar they had seen the night before, whom they had named "Catty" (so clever), took a bunch of pictures with him, and then took the stick he was on away to set him free. However, they didn't realize he (she?) was still clinging to the stick. Long story short, Chatterbox ended up squishing her beloved caterpillar.

There were some major tears. There was a funeral. Then a gathering of flowers and headstones to commemorate the burial ground. More tears. (All of this while D was off on a run, of course). Hours later, as we were leaving the cabin, we found another (identical) caterpillar. She (he?) was quickly name "Catlina" (getting more and more clever). But Chatterbox came to me and with a heavy sigh confided that "I'm glad you found Catlina, Mom, but it's just that I knew Catty so much longer. He's more special to me." More tears.

I couldn't help but point out that they had no idea which caterpillar was in fact the one they had found the night before ... they looked exactly the same. Perhaps this new caterpillar could be Catty? Chatterbox just looked confused and walked away trying to sort it all out. These pictures are PRE caterpillar homicide.