I thought we might be in trouble when the first question as we got ready to depart for the camping trip was "When do we get to bathe?" My response – "you don't get to bathe, we're camping" – was met with some appalled looks. This would be the first time any of our 9 girls (ages 8-11) had ever slept in tents or, apparently, gone two nights without bathing.

As it turned out, the trip was a great success. The girls had a blast and forgot all about taking showers by the time we set up camp. 

We spent two nights in a primitive pioneer site at Providence Canyon. Boy, those rangers know what they're doing when they assign groups of kids to those isolated pioneer sites! The girls shrieked, screamed, and sang to their hearts' content. No neighbors (human neighbors that is) were disturbed, even when one of the volunteers snuck up on the girls (as they all sat in one tent singing songs) and scared the living daylights out of them as he yelled and beat on the tent walls. I've never heard so much shrieking.

Saturday morning we hiked through the canyon. What a beautiful hike! We mostly walked along little stream beds cut through the clay, winding our way through red, white, and yellow canyon walls . The girls examined the various minerals in the rocks and discovered a little cave carved out the canyon walls that they could squeeze through.

It turned out to be a hot day, so a water fight later in the afternoon refreshed everyone's spirits. The evening was spent telling ghost stories around the campfire, making s'mores, and going for a short night-hike to hear nocturnal sounds and look at the stars.

On Sunday the camp was packed up and spotless in record time, and we made our way back to Atlanta, picnicking in Grant Park before we had to return the kids to their parents. Everyone shared their favorite part of the trip, the hike and the tents being major highlights. Everyone also agreed that they were going to spend the rest of the day in the bath.

- Melissa