It was a long time coming (in my eyes), finally it was time to go to Joseph’s Minecraft camping party and I was dead excited, I’ve been waiting to open my head lamp for what seems eons!!
So we didn’t have to get to Josephs party at Lee Valley Campsite till 3pm so most of the morning was spent packing up my stuff and a lot of waiting around, Daddy was on Ballet duty in the morning with Daizee-Mai then Mummy took Jaycee to her Ballet and tap dancing.
We eventually left at around 2:30pm after a lot of mucking about packing etc. and turning around to get something we had forgotten (always the way), bearing in mind it’s a 40 minute journey I kept looking at my watch and Daddy kept telling me to “Chill out” but how could I, I have been waiting for this day for like a century (or close to it).
So when we EVENTUALLY got there there were a few of my friends and their parents already there (but not all of them) and I left Daddy to get on with his introductions to all the other parents, unpacking the car and sorting the sleeping arrangements while I got on with important stuff which was PLAYING!!
There was lots of things to do in the campsite, Joseph’s Dad had set up loads of grass games including football and this stick chucking game (not sure what it’s called) amongst other things, there were also a load of climbing frames so we ran between all of the playing options not really knowing what to do next.
After much play it was time for our picnic, there were all the usual sundries like sandwiches, cheese on a stick, sausage/sausage rolls and not to mention cakes, sweets and biscuits, yes we all loaded up before getting back on with our play time where we all played a big football match while the parents stood around the edge longingly wanting to play with us, it wasn’t too long before that happened and it was a mass action filled football match old and young, it was Dad’s versus Mum’s and kids, I think it was fairly evenly matched, particularly as the Dad’s tired out, there was far more of us than them!!
Dark was what we were all REALLY waiting for, it was time for us to adorn all of our light accessories including head lamps and in my case coloured finger lamps, it was cool, VERY cool, we all ran around in the dark playing various games that quite frankly the adults wouldn’t understand and on that basis they all just sat around the campsite drinking beer and wine and sharing boring old stories!
It was quite cold, but not for us kids, we had it all sussed out, running around in the freezing cold is the key to keeping that body temperature up NOT sitting around drinking as the adults soon found out, there was an awful lot of shivering going on over there as the temperatures approached sub zero, personally I don’t know what all the fuss was about!!
Dinner was boxes and boxes of Pizza ordered in and delivered to the gate and soon added a warmer feel to the atmosphere for the adults as the TEF kicked in (that’s the thermic effect of food for those of you that don’t know), who doesn’t love pizza though, it wasn’t long before we were all stuffed full of glorious pizza which as far as we were concerned was just more fuel to keep us going a little longer, or at least until the BBQ was lit ready for toasted marshmallows, well when I say toasted they were probably more slightly melted as the BBQ kinda didn’t light in the way that it should have so was more of a smoulder than a roar!!
After a while of hide and seek in the dark (I found some great places and couldn’t be found) and a bit more running around we all decided it was time to climb into our jim jams and that was the cue for the parents to come to the executive decision (collectively I might add) to send us all to bed, I think more so they could continue drinking into the night and share adult type stories out of earshot from us kids something I think they may have regretted slightly as the temperature only continued to go one way and that was DOWN, eventually shivering through to the bone they all retired into the camping huts, which although had oil radiators where by no means warm, particularly in the middle of March which incidentally was snowing last year.
After breakfast, the minecraft cakes were brought out and birthday songs were sung and a little more shivering for the adults as they continued their sitting around vigil (minus the beer) it was time to pack up and go home, I LOVED this weekend it met every expectation I had all I can say really is thanks Joseph’s parents …. same time next year?
