Remember That Thing I Said I'd Never Do Again? Part 1

You may or may not remember my firm, immovable stance on camping. I won't do it, no way, no how. Except...

Crap, those darn cute kids! Why does camping have to be so good for them? Why do they have to find it so fun? Why? Why does my family have to organize a camping trip every summer with the promise of lots of cousin time and good, dirty, camping fun? 

You hear that family? Why do you torture me?!?!

So, once again, I found myself eating my words and going camping. This time we borrowed a tent trailer from some good friends (thanks again guys, you are the best!) which made the trip more bearable. 

Now let me tell you why all the hassle of camping was so very worth it.

Friday morning I woke up like normal, exercised and then hopped in the shower. The girls usually give me until after I'm showered, dressed and hair and makeup done before they wake up wanting breakfast, but this morning Sweetheart walked right in on me in the shower. "Is it camping day, mom?" She asked, and before I had finished saying yes she was back out of the bathroom. 

When I opened the bathroom door after my shower, there in the hallway was everything from Sweetheart's bed except for her sheets. She was so proud as she told me, "Look, mom, it's my bedding for camping!" I laughed and told her good job, and told her that when I was dressed we'd work on packing the rest of the way. 

As I was getting dressed I also made the bed and put open suitcases on it so I could start throwing things in as we used them. Sweetheart saw what I was doing and disappeared, then returned quickly with an armful of clothes from her dresser. She actually did a great job choosing clothes and aside from forgetting some jammies and socks, she had pretty much everything I would have grabbed for her. She set to work rolling the clothes and putting them in the suitcase (not even 5 years old and she has already been taught how to pack like a flight attendant, haha!). 

The rest of the day, camping was the only thing she could talk about. She asked about 20 times when we would finally go camping, and then told her doll, her little sister, her toys, and anything else that held still long enough that we would go camping as soon as Daddy was home from work. After what seemed like an eternity to this poor girl, Daddy finally got home and we were soon on the road. 

When camping was over and we were on the way home, I heard her poor tired voice from the backseat, "Mom, wait, we can't go yet! We haven't seen any mountains or forests yet!" Once she finally understood that that is where we had been for the past two days, she asked me, "Can we please turn around and go back?" She repeated that question about a million more times, and then when we were about 10 minutes from home she actually started sobbing. Poor, tired girl! When I asked her why she was crying, she said, "I just want to be home!" I assured her that we would be home very soon, and she asked again, "But instead can we please just turn around and go back?"

I think she had a good time. 

Enough yammering, how about some pictures?

With my new real food thing, my girls get chips very, very rarely. So when we go camping and they are allowed to share a bag, they go a little nuts. 

I can just see the dialogue here: 

"Hold up, are you sure we are allowed to do this?"

"Shh, just eat it fast, while she's not looking."

"Yeah, maybe she'll never know, teehee!"

The first morning there, I for some reason bothered with makeup, and Princess decided she needed a little makeover, too. 

Isn't she lovely?

 More pictures coming soon!