Camping (and books)

We are back from our 5-day Easter camping extravanganza and I am pleased to say we had a great time. Ben took to outdoor life like a duck to water which meant I had a great time too - even got to have a snooze in the hammock! We went to a place called the Glasshouse on the shores of Lake Tyers, about 20km past Lakes Entrance. No running water, no toilets but lots and lots of fresh clean air and sunshine.

I knew nature would keep Benji entertained, nonetheless I took some toy cars, playdough, a full pencil case, a battery-operated DVD player with 3 DVDs (including Madagascar), a colouring book and a pile of softcover books. He ended up playing with everything but the cars and I am hoping some wombat isn't choking on dried up playdough pellets aka 'cakes' as we speak.

I didn't want the books to get wrecked so they weren't allowed to leave the tent, which was in fact a camper trailer. What a godsend and a must for toddler-camping! Happily the books returned home intact - we didn't take library ones just in case.

The days were filled with Ben pottering around having the time of his life: playing on the beach, in the sand dunes, by the lake, driving the car (yes, Ian gave him a driving lesson), trotting around after his heroes Birdie and Carol and lots of hammering and tinkering with the bolts, screws and handles hanging off the camper trailer. On Sunday morning we had an Easter egg hunt which went down well as one would expect. Everything a 2 year old boy could ask for!

After his evening socialising round the campfire we trekked off to the tent for bedtime storytime with our old friends Ernie, Rosie, Hairy Maclary, Spot, etc. I was very glad he had something familiar to fall asleep with as even the pyjamas he was wearing were new ones I had bought for cold nights.

Sadly we didn't see much wildlife, which I attribute to the presence of lots of family pets. At one point we spotted someone's Jack Russell halfway up a tree - hilarious, but not if you're a bird. Oh well, at least the Easter Bunny found us!