One Time, at Band Camp...

Assuming I'm in the process of kicking a nasty respiratory infection to the curb, I'll be chaperoning my ninth grader's band camp trip to rural Pennsylvania this weekend. We leave Thursday at lunchtime and return Sunday at dinnertime. Schedule looks like this:

• Thu: arrive at camp, unload the bus, bring luggage to cabins
• Dinner followed by rehearsal
• Fri: breakfast followed by rehearsal
• Lunch followed by rehearsal
• Dinner followed by play time (movie or basketball)
• Sat: breakfast followed by rehearsal followed by lunch followed by rehearsal
• Dinner followed by last play time (DJ night)
• Sun: breakfast followed by last rehearsal followed by lunch
• Load up buses and head home

Sounds exhausting, doesn't it? But all the veterans swear that the kids have a blast. My son's been playing the clarinet since the fourth grade so it's time he had a bit of fun. LOL. Being that this is a summer campground, they don't have the usual hotel amenities...though we're lucky we get to sleep in cabins with bunks, toilets, and showers. Some of the items that I don't normally take on business trips that I have to take on this weekend:

• alarm clock
• toilet paper
• towels
• shower curtain and hooks
• sleeping bag, blanket, pillow
• bug spray
• folding chair
• flashlights (for chaperone patrol!)
• rain poncho (rehearsals are held regardless of the weather)

This is as close to a bona fide camping trip as I've ever been. Even the trailer camping I did with my best friend as a kid, with the Good Sams, had more of the comforts of home. And I'm a little nervous about the flashlights. Hubby got the heavy duty kind at Home Depot, as wide and as long as my forearm. It's supposed to be in case I have to do battle with a small animal, but I'm wondering whether I'll get tired carrying it. Oh well, gotta go and see what it's all about, Alfie. Wish me luck!