Camping Crazy

My girlfriend sent me this today, and I couldn't help but laugh at it, because, well, it's true:)

I grew up camping with my family.  Everything from tent camping to motorhome camping for days to weeks at a time in the desert, at the beach and the mountains.  My memories of camping were awesome (minus the year we stayed at the Colorado River in 100+ degree heat in a tent and were eaten alive by mosquitos, that was a little rough).  I associated camping with family time, long meals, homemade ice cream, hikes, boating, campfires and always some unexpected adventure that ended in a lot of laughs.  I have wanted to go camping with Phil to re-live those memories and build our own since we got married 8.5 years ago.  Our first wedding gift was even a tent and sleeping bags from his aunts.  However, in all these years, we had yet to  actually go.  UNTIL MOTHER'S DAY THIS YEAR!

I'll admit, it was entirely my idea (nagging, pushing, whatever) and while Phil said he was happy to go along, but he didn't like the idea of having to pack everything up in the car to sleep in a hot tent on the ground with toddlers over a weekend. 

I made sure to take care of his objections by promising to do all the research on campgrounds (staying within a reasonable driving distance of the house), plan all the food, pack the car myself, do the checking in and pitch the tents by myself and he could just show up after work to enjoy the adventure!

Now I realize why camping was always so fun....MY MOM DID ALL THE WORK!!!

It started out great.  I Google searched campgrounds within a 2 hour radius of us, figured out which ones had tent camping available and decided on one that also had a lake for swimming (score).  Two weeks in advance I made the reservations for our campsite and splurged on the site with running water and electricity because being 7 months pregnant with two toddlers I was willing to allow myself some conveniences.

A call to my brother (a very experienced camper) should have tipped me off that I was way out of my league, especially when he asked if I had a camp stove, or at least a propane burner, or at a minimum a cast iron pan (I answered no to all of those by the way), but I was seeing all things outdoorsy through rose colored glasses at that point.  So I decided on cold cuts and hot dogs and called it a meal plan.

Like any good camper, I was going to be prepared. Thursday I went grocery shopping and loaded up on supplies for S'mores, sunscreen and bug spray because at a minimum we could live off sugar and stay itch free! 

Friday morning I woke up and began packing the car.  Now understand, I have an XL SUV, and we were only going for two nights, but after 2.5 hours of packing, two coolers, two tents, two air mattresses, and other random supplies, the ENTIRE trunk of my car, with the seats folded down, was packed to the gills.  My neighbors probably thought we were going off the grid for months.

Friday at noon, the girls and I were finally ready to head out on the road and brave the wilderness.  When we were about 15 minutes from the campsite I realized I didn't bring the wood, but no worries, two Walmarts and a Lowe's stop later, we were locked and loaded with the last two bundles of wood in the entire North Georgia region and on our way to the campground. 

We drove through the campground looking for THE perfect site for our first camping experience and I should have clued in again, that I was out of my league, when we were LITERALLY the only campers with tents (not a mega motorhome).  But we found our sweet, partly shaded, cement parking spot, I mean camp site and eagerly jumped out.

 

It only took me and Emrie 45 minutes to pitch the two tents (yes I needed Emrie to help me keep the poles from popping out repeatedly) and set up camp (our chairs).  I am surprised it only took 45 minutes because we were intereupted 3 times by the 5 minute walk up the hill to the bathrooms (poor site selection on my part, lesson learned) and Aven has the bladder of an old man. 

Not to mention, we were all DOWNING Gatorade like it was our jobs because, oh did I mention, it was 95 degrees and HOOOOOOT!

Just as I was starting to question my decision to spend "my" weekend camping, Phil showed up from work and renewed my hope of saving this trip. 

Then we both heard it....

THE THUNDER!

Phil checked the weather radar and announced that we were about 15 minutes from being hit with a storm and asked me if we should pack up and go home or not.

WAH WAH

I might be a little stubborn, and a little ridiculous, but I put my foot down and declared that we were staying.  We put everything either back in the car or in the tents, threw the rain tarps on, and prepared to have our cold cuts dinner in the tent and ride out the rain. 

After about 20 minutes, the rain, and my minor meltdown, passed and there was a little relief from the blazing temperature, so we started a fire and ate S'mores and let the kids run around and had a delightful time.

Wrapping up the evening events was a trek to the shower house so we would be all nice and refreshed for the next day. 

THEN HELL BEGAN!

We had planned that Phil and I would sleep in one tent and the girls would sleep in the TINY tent right in front of us.  We prepped them how to get in and out of the tent, just to holler if they needed us, and not to be too loud for the sake of the other neighbors (who wouldn't hear us over the hum of their air conditioners and t.v.'s in their RV's anyway). 

Phil and I were exhausted and after an hour of trying to get the girls to stay quietly in their tent (they had now gone from giggling together to fighting with each other), we were fed up with the lack of success in this sleeping arrangement and Phil ended up sleeping with Emrie in the 7'x7' pup tent on a diagonal while I slept with Aven in our tent in a sleeping bag full of scratchy crumbs left over from our 'dinner' that the rain forced us to eat on my bed.

To say it was a restful night of sleep would be an exaggeration, but we survived the fairly uneventful night, and were awakened by THE LOUDEST bird chirping right outside our tent just before 6 am.

Saturday turned out to be a very pleasant day.
 

 We went for a hike that I thought was a mile, but turned out to be about 3 then came back and campfire cooked hotdogs for lunch.

 

We spent the afternoon swimming at the beautiful lake!

While we were enjoying the gorgeous lake, Phil and I questioned putting ourselves through another night of uncomfortable sleep with cranky toddlers, and just head home.  It took me about 5 minutes of debating before I made up my mind.  Do I 'give in' and go home, I mean I had planned, packed and pitched a lot of work into this 1.5 day trip?  Or, do I chalk this one up to a learning experience and waddle my pregnant body home for some actual rest and vow to try again in 8.5 years when our kids are old enough to pitch in and help?

WE WENT HOME ONE NIGHT EARLY!!!

Phil let me sleep in and church was very enjoyable followed by naps and laying in an air conditioned basement topped off with dinner out (and Young Jeezy was right behind us at dinner haha). 

My girls still talk about going camping and how much fun it was, and I am not opposed to doing it again, but next time, I'll be better prepared to be miserable for the sake of my children making memories and secretly pray for the day when they are moms and they finally appreciate what camping really means;)