It's not quite "glamping." We brought sleeping bags and had to walk more than a city block to bathrooms. HOWEVER, it was not really camping either. We had a roof, mattresses, and a space heater. There was electricity in our room. And for now, electricity is the deal breaker.
We took Toe camping for the very first time a few weeks ago. It was a trial run. With his CF, bacteria in public bathrooms is a concern. The smoke from a campfire is a concern. We need electricity for breathing treatments (hypothetically we could do them in the car, but still... electricity is preferred). We had the opportunity to try at the local KOA. The Cub Scouts held their district pinewood derby in the Game Center there and Scouting families were invited to stay Friday and Saturday nights. We opted to go just for Saturday as I did not know how it would go with Toe's health. He has had a rocky winter/spring since January. His lungs are great, but he just finishes one virus when he catches another. He has mostly had low energy and run fevers high enough that I have had to keep him home from school. He was sick the week prior; I wasn't even sure if he would be healthy enough to go.
There were many advantages to this experience. The greatest was that the campground was a fifteen minute drive from our house: we could drive home easily if things went badly. Instead, we had a perfect weekend.
Toe and I got there on Saturday and spent the afternoon walking around the grounds. Toe jumped on the giant jumping pillow. We played chess outside with oversized (three foot) pieces. We played ping pong. We shot hoops. We went to the camp store and got flashlights, wood for a fire, and marshmallows. On the way back to our cabin, when I told Toe it was time for dinner, he did not want to stop. He said in frustration, "It's just like you poured awesome all over my pancakes and then ate them yourself!"
Another Scout family from our den stayed next door, so while the boys played, the dad (an eagle scout) gave me a refresher on making teepee-style fires. We roasted hot dogs and marshmallows. By the time J arrived straight from work, the other family had gone to bed and Toe and I were reading Harry Potter aloud by the campfire.We did breathing treatment and Toe read by flashlight in his sleeping bag on the top bunk before falling asleep.
J had the next day off and Monday was a teacher work day (no school for Toe). We decided that we should stay another night. When we told Toe the next morning, he was elated. The weather was stunning. Toe did breathing treatment on the front porch while J read to him. Toe had opted to leave all tech at home, so instead of ipods or PSPs, we just read and enjoyed the sunshine.
I left the boys to play and drove home. Ok, here's the advantage to camping fifteen minutes from home: I was able to sterilize nebulizers in my own kitchen, pick up more medicine, check my email, and take a shower before I went back to the camp site. I found the boys playing ping pong.
We decided to search for the "Nature Trail" on the edge of the property. After a detour for playground time, we found a raised pathway through a wetlands. J and I were taken back to the days when we would regularly hike together. Toe loved the pathways.
We saw a beaver dam, a tree frog, coyote scat, and a herd of elk as we squished along platforms above thin layers of mud.
I made the fire for dinner and we roasted hot dogs and ate freeze dried meals J and I had purchased for a backpacking trip ten years ago (still good!). J and I made the meal and tended the fire without really discussing what we were doing, just flowing between tasks comfortably.
The thing was, we have to pack so much to travel anywhere and do so many breathing treatments, that the additional work for camping did not seem difficult. I felt relaxed and happy the entire two days.
Each experience was delightful surprise for Toe. He was shocked a sleeping bag could fit in a stuff sack. It looked like a magic trick. He loved cooking hot dogs over the fire. He was shocked that the powdery stuff in those foil bags could actually turn into food. It was a weekend of discovery and delight.
And we were still able to do Toe's breathing treatments as usual.
Sunday night, after we had extinguished our fire and had gone inside to do breathing treatment, we heard raindrops on the roof. Our space heater had warmed the room and we sat there, cozy and warm, reading together. It was only a couple of nights, but we all felt pretty spectacular for days afterwards.
