There may have been an incident with an incredibly big knife (anyone remember that scene in Crocodile Dundee??) but there were no hospital trips and the number of cuts and bruises were minimal...although I knew the antiseptic wipes and minion plasters would come in handy.
Soon after arrival the kids decided that the toilets were quite a long way away and insisted on using nature for...well, the call of nature. Mums turned a blind eye whilst considering how to prevent the youngest from peeing behind the Wendy house in the nursery playground on the return to school while the Dads happily joined in. Although in their defence, the boys toilets were apparently, "too grim for words". The bog in a bag also got a positive review at 2am...
After realising that I'd packed 2 sets of PJ's for the 3 year old and none for the 8 year old we finally got the kids off to bed and secretly toasted the first batch of marshmallows whilst sipping Prosecco from proper glass champagne flutes - cos apparently that's how camping works these days.
At almost 1am we retreated into our sleeping bags and suddenly realised we were camping next to an incredibly busy A road...we'd been having far too much fun and making too much noise to realise before that. 5 or 6 hours later with absolutely no sleep between us, we crawled out of our sleeping bags secretly regretting that last glass of Prosecco and wishing a horrible death on the noisiest flock of birds ever to grace a field in Cheshire.
The threatened storm finally made an appearance around 8pm on Saturday. Kids ran around shrieking whilst adults attempted to batten down the hatches as fork lightning lit up the sky. It was at this point that the group split into three distinct groups; the 'retreat to the bar' posse, the 'grin and bear it under the gazebo' posse and the 'this is a great opportunity to put the kids to bed' posse.
I fell into the latter. Whilst the 8 year old stayed up with the men-folk to tend the fire, I happily snuggled into my sleeping bag with the 3 year old, listening to the rain and having some one-to-one time with my Kindle. Heaven!
The 8 year old finally changed out of the clothes he'd been wearing since leaving for school on Friday morning on Sunday, having slept in them for two nights.
Having spent all weekend trying to get the kids to stop snacking we now force fed them all the food and snacks left on site to prevent having to pack it into the car.
With multiple coffees and bacon/sausage/egg butties out of the way (courtesy of the most comprehensive camping kitchen outfit ever seen) the tents were finally packed away, the cars loaded and we went our separate ways; some to the local pub, some to a rugby match, some simply to the comfort of the sofa.
So, will we do it again? We're already planning the next trip!
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