We just had a neat weekend camping at a Provincial Park which our crazy buddy told us was only a 45 min drive from his place..since we live about 15 min north of him, we thought, Hey, no sweat we'll make it to the park in half an hour...an hour and a half later we wondered when Superguy's van sprouted wings????? <P>Anyway, you know how you look forward to something, sometimes you get bogged down getting ready and the family ends up fighting? Well, that happened so I was in a funk when we left. The closer we got to the park, the darker the clouds and it was pouring but we determined to meet our friend who has his son visiting for the summer and is also entertaining his niece for a week or so.<P>Superguy is like a brother to H and I, although we are not related. He knows how to show kids a good time. So after we enjoyed hot dogs together, we headed down to the beach and the kids enjoyed a sail in the "raft" with the new oars. Actually, the little boat worked terrific..I had some Fresca and christened it for Superguy's son <P>It started to pour and oddly enough, perhaps we were afraid we'd get wet?, we packed up and went to the campsite where it promptly stopped raining!!! H cooked up some awesome steaks and we pigged out on brownies, rice krispie squares and toasted marshmallows for dessert plus coffee for grown ups. Our girls each get along great with S's son and niece so they partnered up. I played a game of Sorry with them before supper and then they yakked and walked among themselves afterward. H and I went for several walks which was really nice.<P>Well, H is NOT a spontaneous guy. For once in my life, I managed to keep my mouth shout and not beg him to stay as we had planned. We had brought our tent but H said if it rained forget it. So we were going to take The Niece and our 11D home and even got in the car and backed out when H says, You know..it's nice out now...maybe we should stay! We were all delighted except S's son (who I think may have had plans for my 14D but she just sees him as a good buddy and his Dad like an uncle sort of).<P>Sonny was upset that his Dad volunteered the two of them to sleep in our tent and the girls and I the tent trailer they had. H chose the car which at first I thought was nuts.<P>Well, as luck would have it, we were near some inconsiderate screaming woman camper who made way too much noise late into the night. It was cold in the trailer and I only had an afghan for myself..Superguy offered me a sleeping blanket so I gratefully accepted and he promptly gave it to the 11s who were already snug as snails in their own sleeping bags--he wanted them to have it on top of them for warmth....(sometimes I can see why Superguy isn't remarried yet but he LOVES kids so I wasn't going to complain) So Sonny has this big tantrum about sleeping in the tent and we can hear him easily when suddenly his tirade is interrupted by a great gust of wind from his father (the steaks were marinated in tex-mex spice lol) Everyone started giggling. Finally, things seemed quiet and while uncomfortable, I attempted to sleep (I got the part where you use the table as part of the bed under the cushions and I am kind of a big gal..ouch) but of course, with the great outdoors and overconsumption of pop and coffee, came the pressure on the bladder one dreads when only an outhouse is nearby and she has forgotten to ask the location of the flashlight she inquired after earlier!! So when I found my way in the somewhat dark of night (being way north helped a bit as it doesn't get superdark till later), I laid down and unfortunately chose to put too much of my weight on the table bed to remove my shoe...I ended up on the floor in front of the table which dropped and have a bruise on the small of my back from hitting the corner of the bench. <P>So there I sat, cold, tired, frustrated and crying like a big baby. I grabbed my car keys only to have H startled cry out to me, Who is that???? when I climbed in to recline my seat. I cried and told him about the drunken woman who was yelling like a megaphone and my fall, etc. and promptly fell asleep. It was wonderful except the knee cramp and waking up too early.<P>I enjoyed telling my tale of woe to everyone at b'fast. They thought I was crazy that I could retell it happily but I told them this is the stuff memories are made of.<P>What a wonderful time...watching the kids splash in the water, watching 14 who feared beaches (she had the horrible misfortune to be on a end of the year school trip last year where a student drowned and died at a beach) with a huge smile, totally relaxed, watching 11 come alive with a new friend and happily rowing the little boat, cuddling with H on the bench and chatting with Superguy about our kids and how pretty the sunset was and how he wished his older niece could be there to see it with him. <P>When we left, we also saw a deer right at the edge of the park. On the way home, we just happened to be invited to my h's friend's farm (an annual open house) which is right on the way on home so it broke up the long drive perfectly...I am terrified of birds but making myself work on overcoming this fear and did really well nearing the ducks...we enjoyed all the critters, etc and seeing old friends.<P>On the way home, I felt sooooo happy. Like everything was just perfect with the world. I was so thrilled that H chose to be spontaneous. I was sooooo grateful for our bed in which we napped and running water so I could finally get the tree sap washed off my hands!<P>And thankful for a mini-vacation that proved worth every minute of it. <P>