Communing with “Nature”

Last weekend was the annual Embassy camp out. It’s essentially camping in your backyard. And Sean and I took it way too seriously.

It was the first time since we bought all our camping gear that we were able to test it out. We’d ran out of time in Maryland, so we loaded our backpacks with the tent, sleeping bags, sleeping pads, lantern, and other excessive gear to sleep approximately 100 yards from where we both work on a daily basis. We were quite proud of ourselves.

We were also the only people there without kids that spent the night. To be fair, it was part of my job as CLO to be there so we had a perfectly valid excuse to hang out with a bunch of awesome kids for the night.

There were a few minor mishaps as can be expected. The sprinklers went off, momentarily turning a peaceful evening into a race for plastic bags to protect the interiors of tents from jets of water. We also had a hard time with the grill but once it got going we feasted on burgers and hot dogs and other grilled delights.

Once the sun went down, the biggest kid of them all, Chuck, lead the group in a sing-along and we dug into s’mores (or, if you’re me, repeatedly burned a marshmallow into a charred, sticky mess).

Our gear held up wonderfully, but alas, my ears did not. At about 6:30 a.m. I awoke to little voices, and for the first time I can remember I was responsible for them. Luckily all I had to do was make waffles.