Fiddler's Grove

(To get the full experience of our weekend, let the video clip play while reading the post so the music is in your head too! Make sure to watch the video to the end to see the crowd cheering for Philip!)

This past Saturday and Sunday, we FINALLY went on our first family camping trip. I say finally because I grew up camping and five years ago when my parents were moving and going to sell all our old camping equipment, Matthew and I bought it from them. Five years that stuff has been in our garage attic and we FINALLY used it (well, some of it!). We joined in on an already planned trip to go with some friends to Fiddler's Grove, a family campground which hosts a Bluegrass Festival every Memorial Day weekend and has for the last 85 years! My church friend Kelly grew up attending as a child with her family and now recruits friends to join them. In all, the group was Matthew, Philip, Braewyn, me, Kelly, her husband Don, their foster baby Sarah, their niece Mallory (13), and nephew Thornton (9), and then also from church Leah, Dave, and their kids Lauren (8), Jack (6) and Ryan (5).

We arrived on Saturday around 10:30am. Braewyn had slept for the 2 hours in the car, and Philip was thrilled to finally be camping! We set up the tent and ate a quick lunch before heading down to the amphitheatre for some bluegrass fiddle playing (at least fiddle listenin'!). After a few hours, we walked back to camp for dinner -- steak and new potatoes on the grill! Thank you again Kelly! After we wiped off the kids, back for some more music. Around 8:30pm, Braewyn was getting sleepy so my four headed back to camp. Leah and her kids joined us and her three and Braewyn all "turned in for the night". Philip was awaiting marshmallows on the campfire so Matthew proceeded to try to make a campfire. I thought all charcoal brickettes (sp?) already had lighterfluid in them so we went as is but the fire wouldn't light. Don got back around 10:00pm, doused the thing with lighterfluid and up came the flames!! Philip was excited but then decided he didn't like brown marshmallows. He didn't understand that you can't keep a toasted marshmallow from turning brown. After talking with Don and Kelly until 11:30pm, Matthew and I headed to our tent and they to theirs. Oh, I forgot to mention that it was about 50 degrees outside, and we were outside!! I shivered myself to sleep...

Until Braewyn began to cry at 1:00am! I patted her back trying to soothe her back to sleep, but between the cold and her pack-n-play being on a slope, she wouldn't settle down. I didn't want the whole place to wake up, so I scooped her up and headed for our Trailblazer. I reclined the driver's seat and held Braewyn close to me under the two baby blankets which she had been sleeping with. Yeah, two baby blankets don't keep an adult warm in 50 degree weather. The next THREE hours I sat shaking from the cold in my car cuddling my daughter as she slept fairly well. Now that I look back, it was actually a very, very sweet time. The moon was full and shone right down into the car. I watched her little face in the moonlight as she slept (something I have never done before and don't know if I'll do again). It was priceless (although I would dread having to bear with the frigid shaking again). Finally around 4:00am, I decided to try to take her back into the tent, and get at least a few hours of sleep myself. The transition went well (thank you, Lord!), yet I continued to shake FREEZING in my sleeping bag.

The next morning, we emerged from the tent at 7:00am and were extremely grateful that Don had restarted the campfire!! My bare feet were in heaven on the cement blocks beside the firepit. By 10:00am, it had warmed up and we were all in shorts again. Down came the tents, another quick lunch and back to the amphitheatre. The music was good, but the funny part was that I had to keep reminding myself that everything I heard was being performed live before me. This world is so multi-media driven that I take background noise for granted most of the time. At the festival, there is live music played 10+ hours a day for three days straight (different musicians fill 30-60 minute timeslots with a few meal breaks). It was a little otherworldly as there was very little intrusion of the "real world" there. We were at Fiddler's Grove for only 29 hours but it seemed like at least a week. It makes me realize that making life busy is what makes it fly by so fast. Maybe we'll go again one year... uh, without diapers to change and after solid nighttime sleep has been established and all four of us can fully walk!