Post 4th...

Tent: The new tent was quickly and easily put up within 20 minutes. Not bad for someone who hasn't "tested" it beforehand. And it kept the morning dew off of us.

Air mattresses: they were still good, and still sturdy. Except for Ashley's, where we're missing a cap BUT it did have a plug so Ashley didn't rough it up. Only had to inflate it once.

Camping gear: got most of everything. Of course, I left w/o flashlights OR dishpan, or dishsoap. This is pretty typical for me to forget those very important items.

Laundry: well, we pretty much lived in our swimsuits or shorts & tshirts. At least there is still plenty of clean clothes....

Food: ooh la la. Yum. Was able to get fresh cut bacon and beef strips. Fresh corn on cob, fresh potatos for baking in the campfire. Fresh deli ham and salami, with fresh sliced cheese and of course a couple loaves of bread.

Misc. stuff: We brought along a small tv with Josh's XBOX and our dvd player. That was to be used for rainy days or when the moms want to nap or something...

The whole weekend was spent at Sugarloaf Campground in Waterloo. I felt like I was far far far away from home, when it was only 40 minutes' drive away. Very nice. It was off a dirt road, but still a gorgeous state park. The lake was just perfect.

We showed up Thursday afternoon, and my friend wasn't there yet with her daughter. So Ashley and I were able to set up the tent so quickly. We were very pleased. Then she proceeded to set up the canopy tent...which will become her job next time we camp. While waiting further, we made sandwiches and ate chips...and just pretty much hung around the site.

Couple hours later, my friend and her daughter showed up. Pah. Then we really started our camping vacation.

We had shish-kebobs of chicken and some vegs over the campfire. It was really delish. Then we had forgotten something ... smores. Oh no. So decided in the morning to visit a store and pick up the supplies for making smores.

Friday morning woke up to a beautiful sunny day and we had french toast with my bacon...yum. Cleaned up a bit and the kids put on their suits and my friend and I hiked down there to the lake. I guess I wasn't really in the mood to swim...but wanted to float. However, it's hard to stay in one spot...so I came up with a new invention (soon to be revealed...).

Went back and made my yummy teriyaki beef strips...with the corn and the potatoes that I cooked wrapped up in the foil and in the fire. Wait, the corn cooked in a big pot over the gas stove. It all turned out so great. We were a bunch of pigs.

Then we did smores for dessert. Hee hee.

Saturday morning pretty much same, but having pancakes and bacon for breakfast, then I attempted to make grilled tuna sandwiches but I missed some ingredient in it ...and I don't think anyone liked it too much. That's ok. Then for dinner, my friend had invited another friend out and she made some grilled chicken and some yummy pasta salad. Too rich for me but it was very good.

We did go back to the lake, and my invention? I took a string rope and loosely tied around my ankle, then climbed on my floating raft and got out to one of the buoy and lassoed the other end to it. That way, I was floating but still in the safe swim area. It was really nice to chill out and relax there. It was just the perfect weather, the lake was perfect and my son was happily playing with other kids....

Sunday morning we took down the tents and loaded up pretty well. However, my van wouldn't start. So my friend had to jump it for me, and that got me going. I noticed one of my brakes were bad, so I had to drive carefully home. It was sad to leave but it was such a lovely weekend, very relaxing. My friend and I are really great camping buddies. We are so flexible and so easy to get along, it's a rare treat.

Now I'm back at work, and life goes on, right? I dropped my van off with a mechanic and they just need to replace the rotor and replace a bolt for the tire that my husband broke off last year...and do some cleaning up in there. It should be nice to be able to drive without that gosh-awful scraping sound. Think of nails scraping down the chalkboard kind of feeling. Ech!