Two Truths and a Lie

We had an opportunity to go camping with some of the members of our ward this past weekend at Highland Forest just a little bit south of Syracuse.  One of the highlights of the evening was playing “Two Truths and a Lie” around the campfire after most of the kids had gone to bed.   In honor of all the fibbing fun from that night, I thought I would blog our adventures using two-truths-and-a-lie triplets.

Friday we still had lots of things to prepare before heading camping.  Here’s how the day began:

1. Amber decided to come wake us up around 4:30 in the morning
2. After briefly falling asleep in our room, Amber woke back up vomiting all over herself, myself, and the bed
3. With a deathly ill toddler on our hands we decided to cancel all camping plans

(And the lie is… #3.  Amber fell back asleep after we got her cleaned up then woke up a couple hours later feeling perfectly fine.  We think the extreme heat from the day before may have been to blame.)

Amber staying nice and hydrated at the campsite.  It was a warm night, but not nearly as oppressive as the last few days had been and once the sun set it was actually almost pleasant.

Despite the dramatic start to the day, things seemed to go well and soon we were on our way to the campsite which was:

1. Actually a youth-group campsite we had to get special permission to reserve for families.  It was really neat since it was mostly just a big wooded area with a few picnic tables, a campfire ring, and an outhouse.  We were able to set up all together however we wanted – a refreshing change from our last family trip to a state park where we were chided by the ranger for not putting up our tent on the right part of our site…
2. Full of mosquitos: we were constantly swatting!
3. Amazingly quiet.  We were the ONLY camping group.  We briefly saw a ranger just as we were arriving, but that was pretty much it.

(And the lie is… #2.  I don’t think anyone in our family got a single mosquito bite, but there were these funny little yellow flies that did  seem to enjoy buzzing around our heads.)

Happy camper Robyn.

The girls loved camping with some of their friends.  One of their favorite parts was when one of the amazing moms who was there showed us a new camping game.  It involved:

1. Someone hiding peanuts (in shells) around the campsite
2. All of the kids hunting for the hidden nuts
3. Everyone snacking on their treasures afterwards

(And the lie is…#3.  Robyn’s still allergic to peanuts, but she had a lot of fun looking for them anyway and afterwards left a few for “Chip and Dale” to eat.)

Some of the kids searching for peanuts that had been squirreled away by one of the moms

With camp all set-up and a roaring fire going everyone got out their skewers and we roasted up some dessert.  Our fireside-sweets included:

1. Roasted candy bars
2. Roasted starburst (This was an idea from my sister Karin.  Apparently roasted starburst are all the rage out west…?)
3. S’mores sandwiched between chocolate chip cookies.  Robyn eventually started skipping the whole marshmallow business and wanted to just eat the cookies: good thing our friends were so nice about sharing their goodies.

(And the lie is…#1.  We didn’t roast any candy bars on this trip, although that is something Bryan and I did on our very first date.  We may have melty milky ways to thank for all the magic that has happened since.  :)

Toasting marshmallows around the fire

The sad part of this whole story is how much of it Bryan had to miss.  After being out of town all week for business, we expected Bryan’s flight to be in by mid-afternoon Friday and planned on meeting him at the campsite in time for dinner.  Instead:

1. His flight was repeatedly delayed, pushing his arrival back over and over.
2. The flight was ultimately canceled, leaving Bryan stranded in Virginia until Saturday.  At least he’ll be able to enjoy all the pictures!
3.  Despite a canceled flight, Bryan remained unwilling to miss the fun, so he decided to rent a car and valiantly drive until almost 3 am just so he could  meet us for breakfast the next day.  He actually wanted to come straight to the campsite, but we persuaded him over the phone around midnight to go home for the night instead.  Since there weren’t any other campers or rangers and the site itself was pretty well hidden we were worried that he would get hopelessly lost if he tried to find us in the dark.

(And the lie is…#2.  Poor Bryan!)

Daddy and Katie both being wonderfully chipper despite not getting enough sleep the previous night. 

Camp-outs are always good group fun.  Some of the greatest-moments on this trip included:

1. The super delicious peach cobbler one family made in a dutch oven for everyone.  Incredible!  (It only served to reinforce my recent obsession with wanting a dutch oven.  This might be the final straw…)
2. The ward mission leader showing off his dance moves.  (And his wife showing off her cooking skills: yay for cinnamon rolls!)
3. The Elders Quorum president revealing who in the group had a secret tattoo.

(And the lie is…#3.  Although he did make a threat along those lines as part of the two-truths-and-a-lie game that night.  It wasn’t true then either.)

Members of the ward busting a move during the little talent show we had.

Robyn having fun being a silly upside-down little person.  (We could tell she really got a kick out of doing this because, unlike her normally shy-self, she was willing to do it in public!)

Definitely a night to remember and to hopefully repeat before too long with even more families from the ward!

P.S.  If you have a good set of two-truths-and-a-lie about yourself you'd be willing to share, leave it in the comments.  Here's a set for me:

1. I once had a summer job dismantling old (still covered in earwax) hearing aids so the parts could be recycled
2. Our family is nerdy enough to have all the Star Trek Next Generation episodes on DVD
3. On my mission I once got in trouble with the AP's (assistants to the president) for repeatedly going on overnight exchanges with one of the elders.  (Missionaries are always in companionships of two missionaries, both girl or both boy.  Girls are called sisters; boys are called elders.)

And the lie is... #2.  Surprised?  Maybe there is a limit to our nerdiness after all.  And as far as #3 goes, don't worry: it was all a mistake.  There was a new elder on island with the same last name as me and when one of the AP's came to our area they saw a bunch of records from work that that elder and our district leader had done together he became, understandably, concerned.