Camping Countdown...

One day and half til I'm out of work.

2 days until we're on the road.

2 1/2 days, we'll be at the campground setting up.

3 more days until we're sleeping in and just ...

relaxin' and chillin' and piggin' out and just...relaxin'.

I drove the van to work today. Just to see how he's been doing lately. I forgot how "heavy" it feels driving after driving Betty for so many days (since Feb!)...and knowing we will take out the back bench seat to make room for our camping gear, it'll still be interesting. Well, I hope we can unlock the back seat and get it out. If not, then...we'll see.

Tomorrow I'll drive Betty. It's quicker and ...smaller...and...all mine.

Tonight I had company over. It is always good to have this friend over for a visit. He just makes me laugh, and you know laughter is the best medicine in the whole wide world. The evening concluded with Josh showing him tricks on his scooter.

Now I'm supposed to try to watch Dancing with the Stars...and I am little restless. Hard for me to settle down a bit so I thought I'd try to blog.

Sorry it's nothing exciting ...

Good night, y'all.

Ready or not....

I'm quite excited about a much needed get-away next weekend. My family and I are escaping to go on our annual Memorial Day camping trip.

Not too far, not too close. Just right....in the thumb area of Michigan---overlooking the lake. It'll be so cool.

And the weather is supposed to be in low 70's so that ain't bad. I do have warm sleeping bags, so no worries there.

That means, I need to dig out all my camping gear, do an inventory of what's what...and decide which of the 2 big tents we want to use.

Then there comes making up a grocery list---I will basically be the chef for the whole weekend. My friend will bring whatever I need her to bring. It'll be fun.

Thing such as grilled teriyaki beef strips, baked potatoes (where we wrap 'em in foil and toss into the campfire to "bake"), and some corn on cob (if any are available), or how about some yummy chicken shish-kebobs? Then another night, probably big fat juicy burgers. Also will let Joshua make his famous breakfast bagel sandwiches. He does pretty good here at home so he wants to cook us breakfast one morning. That'll be really good.

Needing to make sure that we have all the things needed such as pots and pans, and dishes, and silverware (I have these really cheap silverware that someone had given me for ...my wedding...it is perfect for camping use!) and plastic cups and oh yes, let's not forget the coffee. I will have to make sure my husband brings his cuban coffee thing.

Also making sure my swimsuit still fits (probably will hang from me...) and stock up on sunblock. I plan to fry myself to get a head start on summer tan.

A good friend of mine thinks it's too much bother. Sorry dear, I know you're not a camping type of person but hey, it's actually like a sports, and we love it. Some families are cut out for camping, some arent.

My husband is trying VERY HARD to be a good sport but we do have our moments. Gee, more than 5 years and he is still trying to be a happy camper. Yes I did give him the option of staying home this year OR joining us. But whoever joins us cannot complain...they have no right!

Camping is something that we really enjoy. The freedom of being away from home. The freedom of being away from work. The freedom of being closer to nature (yes, I'll bring my allergy meds). And ... for me, I just adore any waterside campgrounds...I would much prefer going to Lake Superior...but Lake Huron is fine.

After all, sometime later this summer, I plan to go on my own trip...on the shores of Lake Superior. Sometimes it's nice to be alone....

What I did last weekend...

THURSDAY:

• I brought the whole gang to work with me. Worked half a day. Went to bank, paid a bill, picked up lunch (2 wanted Quiznos, 2 wanted McD's), and gassed up the van, which I think was watered down a little...those cheaters....
• Arrived in Flint about 2 pm to drop off BFF. Brenda's driveway was full of yardsale stuff! My sister met up with us there to take my kids home with her for the weekend. I poked around the yard sale a bit and collected pots which would turn out to be very handy for camping.
• Went to Kroger's to get some food. Yum. The food bill was a teeny bit too high for me, but it was worth it. I think.
• Took off...and arrived at the campground and was given a rustic site! Um...oh ok. But see, I didn't reserve beforehand, and they did hold a site for me until we showed up. So I have to take whatever they give us. So that meant no electricity for us. That's fine. We'll make do. It took Tony and I a while to figure out how to set up our site. It's very rustic. Oh yeah. And found out we can move the fire pit! So that was a good thing.
• Dragged 50 feet long electric cord from a modern site through the trees and bushes behind our site...and blew up our air mattresses. Thank goodness I had that in my van!
• Went to Port Sanilac for dinner. Came back and it was too dark and the grounds were damp so we didn't do campfire. Went to bed instead. That must've been around 10 pm.

FRIDAY:

• Made yummy blueberry pancakes for breakfast. We had borrowed my sister's camp stove so that was nice to have. After that, we did dishes (had to sneak to the modern site and use their water faucet) and ... relaxed a bit.
  
• Ate lunch (deli) and then put on our swimsuits, loaded up our chairs and towels and hit the beach. Port Huron is gorgeous! We had to kind of poke around a bit along the beach until we could find a un-rocky area to wade in and go swimming. I feel bad I'm not young anymore and can just dive in and swim like a child. Oh well. But it was very enjoyable and just gorgeous! Sat on the beach and just relaxed, and read our books.
• Headed back to our site and started dinner that consisted of flat-iron steak and baked sweet potatoes and grilled corn on the cob. Oooo la la. Oh yeah, I even cooked onions, green, orange and red peppers. Yum. Cleaned up then started a campfire. Chatted and read our books, until I turned in for the night.
• We had a severe thunder/lightning storm all night long! Our canopy tent had crashed and fell down. I had to go out there and move it away from the road...and had to undo some of the poles so could pull the top directly over the picnic table. I would deal with the rest of the poles in the morning. It really felt like inside my tent paparazzi going off in there, the constant lighting up! I at one point shouted to God, "Hey, who's in trouble???" but that was more for my humor.
  

SATURDAY:

• Since I didn't sleep too good, I got up early, and went out to check out God's wrath my canopy had to endure. Two corner brackets were broken. So I figured duct tape might fix those two OR...just replace those two brackets. Not a big loss. Reset the poles and raised it back up. Secured it once more again. Prayed a little and made some breakfast---sweet italian sausage I had to open up and cook on gas stove, with eggs, cheese and bagels. It made for very yummy breakfast sandwiches.
  
• I took a short nap after lack of sleep during the storm. Tony had gone for a walk when I felt the canopy crash again. So I woke up and went out...decided we'd take it apart. So we did. Tony came back in time to help me take them apart and pack it up. At least our site was very shady so we didn't lack in shade. We ate lunch and then headed to the beach. Spent all afternoon there, and the water was wavy, so it was very pretty. Did not swim but did wade a little.
  
• Read our books, drank our pop and chatted...or dozed off. Beautiful place.
  
• Decided we didn't want to cook dinner so we went to the restaurant. Ordered something nice, but I felt my dinner was too rich in sauce. Went back to the campsite and we built a fire...and made smores. Chatted more and read our books. I had finished 3 books over the 3 day period.

SUNDAY:

• Got up late...I ate deli sandwiches while Tony had cereal. We took down everything and loaded the van up. Because the modern site I was "borrowing" electric from was full, I felt it was rude to go over and sneak some electricity to deflate my mattress, I just did the best I could and threw it in back seat. Will deflate it completely at my sister's house.
• After clearing the site, we stopped at the showers and I took my final shower there. Felt so good! Waved goodbye to the lake and off we went.
• Arrived at my sister's and pretty much crashed ... it was tiring! I nearly fell asleep on her floor. Ate lunch with them and played Uno with them. It was fun.
• We left around 4 and arrived home about 6 pm.
  

The Lake was just gorgeous. I would say it's my second favorite. Lake Superior would be my first favorite of all. The nature, the way the beach was set up and the friendliness of others...and Tony learning patience during the whole weekend (if he started to get frustrated or think about complaining, he'd stop and then give me a goofy silly smile...and try again...). Learned how to make campfire. Learned how to make smores too! Yum.

My whole weekend, I felt very close with God and with my husband. It was a much needed time together, and with God too. I have NO complaints. What is the point of complaining? So we just look at it in different ways and find something good out of the whole thing.

Would I do it again---rustic camping? Yes... but will try to aim closer for the restroom (that...was like what, a half mile away hike for me???Pffft) and ... closer to an electric outlet---OR...water source. Amazingly, I wasn't even that dirty. Only my feet would get little muddied or sand on it, but it was nothing I couldn't clean off with a towel or wipe on rug.

That, my dear friends, was my adventure over the weekend. Camping is a very enjoyable time, and total relaxation. Made friends with my neighbors...the kids next to us were in awe, I think, to see two people communicating in ASL. LOL.

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!