A letter to the new state park managers

Dear New State Park Managers (aka destroyers of family fun),

Although my group of 60+ adoptive families has had an annual camping trip in your park for 26 years, apparently there are some new rules and management in place. We apologize that we did not get the memo and therefore made many infractions last week.

First, we apologize that the families in our group may not have looked like  your “ideal” NW family. Every family that attended was formed through international adoption. That means that most of our children are not Caucasian. They also do not look like their parents or siblings. They may in fact have very dark skin. And, I’m sure the worst infraction of all, many of the children were adopted with developmental or physical disabilities; they may not have the “perfect” body or speech.

We also were not aware of the new rule that we could no longer use the small “cut-through” road that was in the middle of our camping loop. At your insistence, we did not block it off as a safe place for our children to play. We left it open and unimpeded for the entire week. Yes, we may have gathered in that lane. It is the most central and convenient for everyone. But was having a “girls’ tea party” on the side of the road and “bike safety rodeo” really so nefarious that you had to send your minion rangers out to take pictures of our children?

We also may have defaced several items on our camping loop.  I assure you that it was with evil intent that the children wrote with sidewalk chalk to “slow” down, “walk your bike” and “one way” to help direct bike traffic. In addition, one bathroom may have been decorated with frilly princess decorations to help all the little girls know that they are all princesses. Shame on us.

I know that the gathering of so many distrustful and shady families in one location must have made you very nervous. That is why we moved our group potluck and dance party (no! Not the electric slide and chicken dance!!) outside of the campgrounds. This change in location made it impossible for our families with young children and disabilities to attend.

I hope you enjoyed enforcing all of your new rules as well as the photos that you now have on record. I expect to find our kids on the “most wanted” website. We left the park disappointed and will be seeking an alternate campground for next year.

Signed,

A rule-breaking adoptive mom