2012 Camp Bus Story - Prequel

What is camp without a good bus story?  This year we didn't manage to steal a bus, or the obvious one-up from that: exploding a bus, but we did manage a bus incident two nights before camp.  But before I tell you about the bus incident, which will seem quite tame after this wind-up, I need to tell you what we did the night we took the camp bus for a pre-camp trial run and fuel-up.

Before the warm spring holidays in our Queensland town, we received a flier in our school newsletters saying that there would be ice-skating and tobogganing in a Fitness and Recreation Centre 20 minutes from where we live.  Buzz and Jessie had been ice-skating before and enjoyed it, and we decided that we'd take all our kids along with Justamum, Belle and Banana (from the blog Yes I Said Four) to try it out.  They had a family friend, a boy of about 10, staying with them, so it seemed like a good idea to take the 22-seater bus to fit us all in, and also to do the pre-camp trial run in the same trip.

The kids loved ice-skating!  Buzz thought he was an Olympic-standard skater as he shuffled around the rink, Jessie and Woody both cried until they got little-kid skates which helped them shuffle around too instead of their usual falling/crying routine, and Mr de Elba and Justamum helped their respective children around while trying not to fall down, get wet or get bruised.

I was glad to sit out with baby Rex in the wrap, because can I just remind you of this:

which, while much improved since the birth of little Rex, cannot be trusted in a slippery-floor situation, much less an ice-skating situation.

The tobogganing was also a winner after initial tears from Jessie and Woody.  Jessie seemed to have had no real reason for tears, but we thought Woody's tears were probably justified.  His first ride went perfectly if his cape is anything to judge by, despite his facial expression:

 But his second trip was generally considered to have been a mistake:

Tears ensued, but Daddy saved the day:

Banana and Belle had a blast on the toboggans:

 As did Buzz and Jessie:

And when it was all over, we hopped into the bus to go home, with a quick stopover to buy 30c cones at McDonalds.  It was late, dark, rainy and cold.  Everyone was tired, especially baby Rex who needed a feed, a bath and his own comfy cot.  The bus felt a little old and unreliable, but what could go wrong, right?