Mama Knows Best

Sometime last week, something snapped inside of me and had me feeling a little less than excited about going camping. It was until Wednesday, mid-afternoon, that I started getting a little bit more excited about it. Maybe it was the jitters of taking the munchkins camping, but whatever it was diminished by the time we arrived.

We left for the campground on Wednesday evening.  We meaning my grandparents, Tyler (our neighbor), Ethan, Addison and me.  My parents pulled the camper over to the campground and help set up before they headed home.  After some minor complications (wrong power cord, camper rolling off the block, etc), we finally made it to bed around 11:30pm.  Not really excited about how late my munchkins got to bed, but they did sleep fairly well.

Thursday is when the real fun started.  My brother and his family arrived, as well as my parents and some family friends.  After everyone was set up, we sat around the campsite watching the munchkins play.  After a while the boys (my brother, Jason, Tyler and Zachary) went out on to the fishing boat to stroll around the lake.  Ethan was a bit devastated about this and demanded that “you don’t like me no more!” to everyone he came in contact with.  He was unhappy, at least until he found the dirt pits.  And then it was all over from there… we couldn’t keep him away from them even if we tried.

Friday and Saturday were lazy days, with the occasional temper tantrums, trips to the beach and playing in the dirt holes.  Ethan, Tyler and myself went to the beach on Friday afternoon and had a blast!  It was the first time Ethan had ever stepped foot into the lake, so it was special.  Ethan and I floated around on a raft together, while my back turned into a thousand shades of red.  I do not know who invented sunscreen, but seriously people… it did not work!  My back is friend something fierce!

Friday evening I picked Jeff up from work around 9:30pm so that he could come back to the campgrounds with us.  When we got back, everyone was sitting around the campfire eating s’mores, talking and singing songs.  Saturday was basically a repeat of Friday.  Sunday though, that was a whole different story.  Woke up around 7am to rain, winds and rushing outdoors to put things away before the wind carried them away.  We started tearing down shortly afterward and bummed around until around noon, when we kicked into high gear.  After Jaclyn’s nap, we sang “Happy Birthday” to her, ate cupcakes and opened presents.  Kind of a rushed 1st birthday party at the end, but a nice one.  Everyone left the campground to head home, drop their campers and meet up at my parents house for one last cookout before some of them had to leave to head back home to Detroit.

All in all, it was a good weekend.  I met new people, spent time with family (ours and in-laws), heard more about constipation (they might want to try Colonix, eh?) than I cared to and saw more alcohol consumed than should be legal.  It was such a good time that we are already planning another big ‘ol family camp out again in the near future!