Camping

The much awaited camping trip had finally arrived. The kids were over the moon about it. They had been talking, visualizing, arguing and even dreaming about it. They were so thrilled that they were bugging me with endless and temper provoking questions the minute they woke up on that day. It did not really help improve my patience as I had to pack, clean, cook and made sure that they were all set when ailong arrived from work (he took a half-day off). So, you ladies out there, especially those who experienced a similar predicament, I am sure that you would understand how I felt when you were trying to manage everything and at the same time, being bugged with annoyingly innocent questions...e.g. how are we going to 'mandi' there? Is there a swimming pool there? Is there a toilet? etc..I realized that these were all legitimate questions, but when I needed to accomplish so many things in such a short time, my temper flared easily. It did not help help that three days before the trip I was down with a fever that left me bed confined.

The original plan of going to Lake District was thrown into the drain because of severe weather forecast and strong gales. I was a bit disappointed, but as for the children...nothing could dampen their spirit! Instead of the breathtakingly beautiful Lake District, we had to contend ourselves with Hartlepool. But it was not that bad. In fact, I dare say it wasn't bad at all.

I could tell that the kids enjoyed themselves. Iman made some new friends and so did Ihsan. Farah tended to click with those younger than her (aged around 4 -5)and of course, she became the ring leader. She was their queen bee!

The first day was okay. We were busy (the men actually) setting up the tents while the spouses (kita orang lah tuh) were chatting away with each other. The kids were running about in the field.

I considered the second day relaxing. Why? Because the kids were no where to be seen. I had the whole day to myself and teehah. Ailong, too, was occupied with his mates. The children left the tent and went about their own merry business with their new friends and only during lunch time did I see them, all hungry, tired and dusty. Boy, they were having the time of their life. After lunch, things were still quiet with the children wondering about in the camp area. In the evening, I joined in the orienteering activity, it was fun...except for the part that we lost! Later, that evening we had a BBQ competition. As anticipated, we did not bag any price...no surprise there huh! Nonetheless, we enjoyed eating either the burnt or half-cooked chicken, burger and the slightly odd looking sausages.

The last night was miserable. The strong wind made matter worst. I was worried sick that our tent might be blown away, but alhamdulillah we persevered. Then it began to pour. It rained and rained and rained right through the night and the following day. It was wet, wet and wet. The children were covered in mud, even Teehah. Imagine all the cleaning and scrubbing that I have to do sob... sob... sob...

Buat masa nih gambar-gambar camping tak dapat dimuatturunkan (betulke perkataan nih)sebab kamera masuk air. So, tak sure lagi gambar gambar tuh boleh tengok ke tidak. Tapi, insyaAllah akan diusahakan jugak. I promise! Maybe ada rezeki boleh beli kamera baru...ahaks!