Snake!

I promised to write about what happened on Saturday night, October 1, when we were camping, so here it goes! Sorry it's taken me so long.

We had a full day of hiking, playing near the river, playing on the beach and being crazy (who, us??).  After dinner (fruit, chili & quesadillas), it was already dark, and we were all exhausted. We'd been up since 6:30-ish. (I was already awake that morning, but I pretended to sleep when I heard Johnny start to stir. He LOVES camping and  is almost always the first to awaken. He wakes up, starts unzipping the windows, putting his hands outside the tent, putting his shoes on and walking around outside. He just can't wait for the adventure to start, so he starts calling our names - usually starting with Joe - until we are all up and as ready for adventure as he is.)

We crawled into the tent at about 8:30, said our prayers, and opted to skip our "scary story" tradition because we were all too tired. Joe read a few scriptures to us by flashlight, and we fell asleep before he was done. Around 11:30, Johnny, who was sleeping to my left, sat up suddenly and began yelling "snake!" Please keep in mind that I grew up in the desert, and we were frequently cautioned while camping that snakes can sometimes crawl into your sleeping bag for the warmth, so this didn't seem so bewildering to my sleep-fogged brain. I tried to calm him down, knowing that when dealing with all wildlife except bears, you should definitely stay calm. He wasn't having any of it. He leaped from his sleeping bag over to the door of the tent, screaming "snake" the whole time. I sat up and went over by the door, trying to unzip it so he could get out. He grabbed a humongous handful of my hair and used it to support himself while he continued yelling, changing his yelling to say, "Snake on my foot! Snake on my foot!" He then leaped over my legs to where the girls were, and they began screaming as well.

I finally got the door opened, and I tried to get Johnny to leave the tent, but instead he wrapped his arms around my neck and his legs around my waist and refused to let go. He was shaking from head to toe. I tried to set him down near the campfire, but he screamed, "No! Snakes!" I carried him to the picnic table where he still refused to let go of me, and people in nearby campsites began to ask if everything was okay. I told them I wasn't sure yet, and went back to the tent with Johnny still attached to use the flashlight to see if there really was a snake.

Back at the tent, Johnny surprised me by letting go of me and sitting on his sleeping bag, where he woke up. Yes, that's right, I said woke up. He had been having a night terror the whole time, eyes wide open, seemingly lucid and awake, but not. Just to be safe, we looked around the tent and there were no snakes in our tent. The girls were still sitting in their sleeping bags, and Joe was sound asleep.

As we talked about it the next morning, we realized that it was probably the kelp on the beach that we were playing with that subconsciously caused Johnny to dream about snakes. These kinds of adventures are part of what make camping memorable and wonderful as a family. At the time, I have to admit, it wasn't exactly what I had in mind. :-)