15 July, 2016

Camping tour 2016: Day thirteen (Thursday 14 July)

Another rest day, and much needed. We're getting weary. 

We were driven out of bed earlier than we would have chosen by a cloud of tiny flying insects. So small they drifted through the netting on our windows with ease. Not biting, but very irritating as they landed all over us. Even though it was warm already, I changed into long pants and put a light jacket on to stop them landing on some of me. Thankfully they drifted away not too long after breakfast, but not before dying in our food and every other available surface.

We lazed around after our pancake breakfast. Went for a walk along the creek and I also got some more magazine editing done. 

After lunch almost all of us went to hang out in the creek and we ended up having a foil boat regatta of sorts. 

Later we drove out to a local hot spring for our first shower in two days (this campsite doesn't have bathing facilities). It was a lovely bright, fresh place and we felt beautifully clean afterwards. The boys even comments on how nice it was to feel so clean.

Then we came back and started up our last fire for this trip. It's a bit sad that this part of our journey is over, but the boys are a bit weary of the rigors of camping.  And we're weary of helping them cope and only staying two nights in one place gets tiring.

We sat around chatting a little after dinner after book characters we'd like to meet. Calvin and Hobbes came up. I asked one boy if this camping trip had been "character building" for him (a phrase Calvin's dad often uses). He denied it has been, of course!

Today we also finished the fourth book of the Garth Nix series, "Keys of the Kingdom" series that I've been reading to them. Our last camping tour we read The Hobbit, it's been nice to have a group read going this trip too! It helps everyone through some quiet times before a meal, but also in settling to sleep at night. We've also in the last several days been doing a family devotional time and prayer time in bed, which has been a bit lacking in discussion, but has helped in calming boys down to sleep.

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