"You know, now there's a pretty hungry little billy goat goat goat goat goat goat."**

The camping was fun overall. It was our first time out with the camper so we were working out the kinks and learned some lessons. (i.e. pack heavier blankets, ask how far the bathrooms are from your spot, figure out why the heater won't work, figure out why the sink won't drain and most importantly, just don't take the kids next time!)

We had loads of wind Saturday night and several times I pictured the bed pop outs becoming wings similar to The Flying Nun and waking up to singing munchkins in the merry ole land of Oz. At three a.m. I did wake to the sound of rain and thunder off in the distance. I peeked out the window and saw lightning, so I got out of bed and pulled up the radar on the laptop. There were some pretty intense storms with loads of rain and lightning, but, amazingly, I watched them part like the Red Sea and go around us. It all went to the north of us and one nasty little cell went to the south of us in the Delaware Bay. That was the storm I was hearing off in the distance. It was warmer Saturday night, so we didn't freeze. In fact, we were a little hot because we had to zip up all the vinyl sides because of the rain.


My focus, though, is on Zoe. That child is going to be the death of me. In my post earlier this week regarding the kids' personalities, I referred to Zoe using a picture of the Tasmanian Devil. I would like to take this moment to rescind that and instead insert this picture with her name:

That is Tex Avery's little billy goat in his cartoon, Billy Boy. The goat spends the entire cartoon destroying anything and everything in site. My reason for this comparison is because in the coarse of a weekend, Zoe managed to mutilate three of Noah's toys and an item of mine.

Noah got a rocket for his birthday that you can pump up and soar for long distances. We brought it along thinking it would be the perfect place for him to play with it since our yard is not that big and it would most certainly end up in someone else's yard if he played with it at home. Friday afternoon, the kids played with it and we brought it indoors Friday evening when we were getting ready for bed. Suddenly, Noah started crying and we found Zoe with the rocket ( foam and cardboard) eating the cardboard wings off it. No, not TEARING.... EATING!!

This is the same kid (pun intended) that spent at least 4 months obsessed with the padding that lies under the carpet. We have an area rug in the living room with carpet padding underneath and as soon as Zoe could crawl, she would go to the corner, pull up the rug and EAT the padding! Nothing we tried kept her away from it, she kept sneaking over there and eating it and we never understood what the fascination was.

About an hour after the rocket incident, Noah started crying again. For some unknown reason, Noah packed his own bag and must have just run around his room randomly grabbing things to pack. One of the items was a small snow globe he got for Christmas with his name on it. Zoe picked it up, said, " BALL!" and smashed it!

Saturday evening, I went off on a long hike to the restroom to brush my teeth, wash my face and get ready to go to my concert. When I got back to the camper, DJ was playing with Noah. Zoe was sitting in the dinette area smiling broadly with my glasses on! I went to take them from her and realized that she had snapped the arm completely off! They were my brand new frames I just got a few months ago after having used the same frames for almost eight years. The reason I decided to get new frames is because the previous one, while lasting in almost pristine condition for seven years, had been mutilated in the last year several times by Zoe. And, no, I did not just leave them lying around. She grabs them while they are on my face and rips them off. The girl has a grip! I am currently back to my old frames, because, while loose, crooked and full of teeth marks, at least they are still intact.

So far today, everything she has eaten has actually been edible, but I never know when a towel, a Lego, the neighbor's cat, or the van might go missing because Zoe thought it might be fun to eat.

** farmer wolf in Tex Avery's cartoon, Billy Boy