Camping

This is the fourth year we've gone camping.  There's always something difficult...the first year, which was very new to my DS who has autism, was the most difficult.  That year he banged his head so hard into my car that he broke a headlight.  He also hit me in the head repeatedly so that I started to vomit.  The second year, DS urinated all over the inside of the tent including everything in the tent, so I had to spend one whole day at the laundromat.  The third year we were completely broke that I didn't bring many new activities for the kids to do, and we couldn't go and do things around the area.  The kids got bored, and we left a day early.  This year, it poured for four of the five days we were there.  On the fourth day, DS got his finger stuck in the car door, so we went home early again.  The day we packed was the nicest day all week.  We wound up missing the urgent care hours anyway, and by the next day his finger looked okay, so we left early for nothing.  We were tired from being wet and cold all week.  In fact, on Tuesday, the high only got up to 63, so we were wearing fleece on July 25.  But, we had some nice family time, and it was nice to be out in nature.  Also, they built a new playground at the campground, and that was the biggest hit.  In between rainstorms, we had some campfires and some snuggles.  DD's hippo Harry went everywhere with us.  Soon we are planning to visit his brother William at the Metropolitan Museum of Art.
DS loves camping now, and is generally very relaxed the whole time, which in itself is a major blessing.  I hope next year is better.  It's a cheap vacation, and just about all that's in our budget for now.