The Insect That
Made Its Statement

Riiing riiing riiing. My eyes open to a prenegotiated early phone call at the ungodly hour of 9am. This is a normal time for Ella to be dropped off, but due to my newly adopted vagrant lifestyle, it hurts to open my eyes before 10. This is Ella's first look at my newly acquired camper. It's a bit of a step-down from our house, so I can tell she is dubious upon entering.

I try to convince her that going to the forest by a river would be a good call as it's hotter than the devil's ball sack outside. But no — she insisted that we go to Arrowrock Lake. One of her favorite spots. Unfortunately there is no shade, so I prepare for the heat. This time, due to lack of space and AC, Garnet gets a promotion in title to Travel-Rat. I load up the van with all needed provisions and supplies and somehow balance a rat cage on top of it all.

We say our farewells and take off to the lake. It's a quick drive. Me and Ella share good conversation, and I face the reality that my baby girl is now listening to music like Ariana Grande — music that makes me question where time has gotten to. So I put an end to that and get some good vibes and 311 to match the sunshine.

We get to our destination and walk around for a bit to find the perfect spot. A humongous fallen tree marks our site. I start construction on our camp, complete with a kitchenette and bathroom. The wind did not make this easy as I'm yelling at Ella to make sure the canopy doesn't lift away while I'm staking down the bathroom tent. I ask Ella to make a fire pit and — other than complaining after each rock she had to pick up — she did a fantastic job.

She keeps asking me to inflate the paddle board, so by the time I do it she is jumping on it as soon as it's in the water. This is Ella's first time on it by herself and she is a natural — sitting and standing, she starts to go out on the lake. I'm super proud because traditionally she has been a bit hesitant to go very far out into the water. But with the oar in her hands, she becomes a captain to be reckoned with.

After she is back we take the board out and she decides to use it as a diving board and has some fun. I get a great idea to test Garnet's ability on the water. I take my rat on my paddle board and she once again gets an upgraded title.

The rest of the day was filled with making food and playing in the lake. I took an hour to upgrade our fire pit as I saw these massive rocks around the lake and I just couldn't let them go to waste. The other campers had some comments as they saw me rolling these huge stones to our camp. I'm sure it was a bit overkill as I kept hearing "you're so extra, Dad!" from Ella. "Leave me alone, I'm having fun!" I yelled back, rolling rocks like Sisyphus. I constructed a massive stone pit that we ended up barely using.

As the sun was dipping behind the mountains we go for a walk, first stop being the gigantic tree up the beach from our camp. We carve our names in it caveman style with my knife, using a rock to chisel away at it. We find some good kindling and a big log that we try to roll down the hill. We rolled it a few times and it kept getting stopped by rocks, so when it finally got to the water it was a bit anticlimactic. A bit defeated, we walk back to camp and start a fire. Short lived — we're tired. We retire to the van and get a good night's sleep for the next day of shenanigans.

We wake up to the sun blaring into the van as I forgot to put the sunshade up before passing out. I make some terrible instant coffee and enjoy some crumb cakes for breakfast. Ella wastes no time jumping in the lake and harps on me enough to do the same.

We go out on the paddle board for a test run on a big adventure we are saving for our last day. Staying close to the side we are camped on, a bit of nervousness was had being that far from shore — but Ella overcame the scary feels and we found a neat little cove that we paddled up to. On the way back, Ella decides to be a boss. "I'm going to paddle us back," she says. She gets the oar and takes charge. It's a bit of a distance, but she gets it done.

Back at camp we have some lunch. I think it's a good time to test Garnet's true ability as an Adventure-Rat. She paddle boards. She swims in the lake. She runs about on the massive fallen tree. She stays close by me during all of it and is quick to come back when she gets out of her depth. She loved it. She kept trying to get out of her cage for the rest of the day to join in more outside fun.

After some camp chores Ella and I play in the lake and chill. We pull up the chairs and rest. At 4:34pm, I see Alaina's white Durango come around the bend of the dirt road. This was surprising as it was unclear if her and kids were going to be able to join. Ella and I get excited as we see them get closer. Alaina, Dreyden, Wayland, and two puppos get out of the car and the campsite explodes into production.

After getting things set up and floaties inflated, water fun is had by all. Paddle board trips and digging holes, playing fetch, chasing after wandering dogs — all the camp time fun. We even built a stone enclosure to house the floaties as the wind was taking them. As the sun went down the kids were getting tired. This was a good time to get some use out of the overly large fire pit I had made the day before. A huge fire, logs and chunks of wood found on the beach. S'mores were enjoyed and stories were told. Alaina and I map out some constellations with our star map apps.

9am at the lake is unheard of. The kids are in the water early in the AM having fun. I take every minute of rest I can get. "Dad! Get in the water!" is the first thing I hear getting out of the van. Unsure if I answered or not, I do not get in the water. Instead I start the day by making a cup of the most horrific instant coffee that has ever been had. No amount of milk and sugar made it anything but thick goopy syrup. But it did its job. I'm then handed a second caffeine drink that has the delicious flavor of blue.

After waking up a bit we all have some water fun followed by beach time stretching and slight yoga. Alaina made some delicious turkey cheese wraps to fuel the mid day. Ella says she wants to skip our big adventure to the other side of the lake, so Alaina reluctantly took her place on the bow of the board. After outlining safety to the kids, we loaded up drinks and snacks and embarked onto the lake.

The whole way there, fighting the wind, we had a good conversation about the whys of doing things like exploring the other side of a lake. We got to a deep cove and disembarked onto nearly untraveled ground — the end of private farm land, so we didn't cross their fence. A little ravine with a mossy creek made for some good photos. We snacked, watered up, and attempted to get back on the board.

The cove was being battered by wind that had conveniently changed direction, and paddling the 100 feet out of there was harder than the hour it took to get there. Alaina takes over on the open water for a bit as I nurse my sore shoulders. This is one of the only times I have a true story of walking uphill both ways. The wind was not our friend this day. We switch back and paddle home to camp. The kids had done amazing — they even collected a bunch of firewood. I'm beat. We lay in the van as the kids play in the water, having waited two hours for us to get back before allowing themselves to get in.

A family showed up bumping some semi-ok gangster rap. Some delicious walking tacos for dinner and some good music led to me wanting to outdo the previous night's fire.

Unfortunately, during the making of dinner, I hear Alaina start shrieking at a decibel that made the dogs uncomfortable. A humongous, black, chihuahua-sized flying bug was wreaking havoc in our canopy. The kids joined in the panic as I quickly changed into my ninja persona. No fly swatter in sight — the only acceptable tool was a wooden cooking spoon.

It's beefy. A strong, independent bug that won't go down just because of a wooden spoon. But three or four foot stomps seemed to finally do the trick. It was a battle. And although he lost — the massive insect made its statement.

After all of the excitement, we go collect more wood and big logs of driftwood and construct a four and a half foot tall tipi to burn. After lighting it, it was a group decision that this was maybe not the best idea, as we couldn't sit close enough to enjoy it. Some heavy eyes and low energy made it an early bedtime. The next day was to be our last here, so we all wanted to get some rest.

I wake up in the AM and a fire is already going. Alaina had the kids entertained and the camp on a good way to be cleaned. After round two of walking tacos, cooked on the fire, we all jump in the lake for our final fun spurt. This was pioneered by the kids dunking each other and me grabbing and successfully mounting the turtle floaty that Alaina had brought.

The mood shifted quickly as it turned into how many times we all could dunk Alaina. And all she was wanting was some zen water time. Smiley face.

We get out and let the fire dry us. We start deconstructing camp slowly for the return venture back to town.

July 11–14