We decided to take the boys camping for Conner's birthday weekend. Well, let me back up...the truth is, we booked the trip awhile ago, not realizing it was Conner's birthday weekend. Once we realized this fact, Day called to check on other dates. Apparently, by calling to check on other dates, the nice woman on the phone took that to mean that we wanted to cancel our spots. We did not realize this fact until about three weeks out, only to find that all the lakeside spots were booked up, and now we would be staying in an alternative site. Not on the water, but fine...right. We'll sort of. That was our first sign of things to come.
Next, we had planned for us, my mom and brother and Mark to all be going. Mark also has a pop-up and my brother was going to be sleeping in his camper. The day before we are suppose to leave, we find out that Mark has to work and will not be able to come with us, leaving Cory with nowhere to sleep. This was our second sign, but still we persevered.
So, on Friday, after a week of VBS and last minute packing we headed out around 3ish. After the two hour drive to Tyler, we found our spot and began the set-up, unloading process. Next thing we know, the camp "host" came to inform us that we couldn't set up any tents on these sights, so Cory got to sleep in the car that night. I had also made Conner a birthday cake to put icing on and decorate when we got there. During the unloading process, Carter decided the van would be his place to play. The cake was in the van, thus it was full of Carter sized crock footprints and no longer eatable. After a measly dinner of hot dogs and mac n' cheese we took a bike ride and showered and went to bed.
Saturday morning started bright and early, and after breakfast Day made a trip to Walmart to get a neted gazebo to try and keep the insane amount of flies away from us while we're eating and to find a replacement for the trashed birthday cake, and a few other things we needed like milk for the homemade ice cream we were going to make later. While the boys went to swim for the second time, mom and I started getting dinner ready...only to realize I had forgotten to pack the corn and the vanilla for the ice cream. When Day got back from Walmart with the screen, we opened the box to put it together, only to find that it didn't come with the frame, so back to Walmart he went, to return the screen and get me some corn. We borrowed some vanilla from our neighbor, and dinner was on again. Day has spent most of the afternoon smoking a yummy brisket in his smoker, and for dinner we had brisket tacos with corn and cole slaw...this was the BEST PART of the WHOLE WEEKEND. We ate ourselves sick. It was so YUMMY! Then we did a quick decorating job and singing happy birthday to Conner and eating some less than yummy ice cream (I didn't put enough vanilla in, so it tasted like ice milk). After dinner we cleaned up and the boys played baseball before it was time for showers and bed again. (Let me just mention that showering with three slippery naked boys is crazy and a bit dangerous. That floor is really slippery and it was like 200 degrees in there. I look forward to the day they can shower themselves.)
As we were getting the boys in bed, the thunder started to rumble and the lighting got closer together. Right about the time we got in bed, the sky fell out and it rained, and rained, and rained...ALL NIGHT LONG!!! About 4:00 I noticed my feet were wet, my side was wet and my head was wet. Needless to say, it was a very long night.
The next morning, I was less that happy and very sleep deprived, so we packed up and got ready to go home. During the hour long packing up process we had the boys in their car seats watching a movie in the van. They were getting restless, so when we were done we decided to go for a short walk before heading out. We walked down the street to the lake and right about the time we got there, it started to sprinkle, then rain, the pour as we ran back to the car as fast as we could. Needless to say, we were all drinched by the time we made it back. We towled off in the car and got the heck out of there! We made our traditional stop at DQ for lunch and made it home in time for more unloading, cleaning, drying out, and general desaster relief.
We will soon be listing our camper on Craig's List, so tell your friends. So long as they don't mind a few leaks. The a/c is awesome, that's about all I can say about it. Oh, and apparently it can sleep 7 people, if you put one on the floor and large boy and an infant on a twin bed. (Cory had to squeeze in with us during the monsoon.)
So, if you're still reading this long rant, you will see that we had a lovely weekend of ups and downs, but we made some memories and will look back on this and laugh, right? Right? RIGHT??? Maybe someday...until then, here are some pics from the trip. Enjoy and be glad it was us and not you;)
Cooper slid into a charcoal pit...SAFE!
Our short but sweet nature hike...it was too hot!
Daddys' well deserved nap!
Cooper found a girl (big surprise) named Megan and he chased after her all afternoon. (literally)
Conner on his new bike. What a big boy!
Conner's Birthday Festivities!! (White Trash Camper Style)
