Packing Heaven

I've mentioned before that I really do enjoy packing....or even more - planning. It's not the thrill of putting things in a suitcase that I love, but the whole idea of gathering, shopping and planning for all the fun stuff I can organize with. Then I really do love putting it all together neatly and "just so".

My kids are going away to camp in a week and the prep and lead up time to this has been absolutely fun for me. My kids, quite frankly, could probably not care any less. If I sent them to camp with a trashbag full of t-shirts and shorts they would both probably be just fine. In fact, last year my oldest daughter refused some of my 'bunk set up techniques' because one of the other girls called her a "fancy camper". Sadly, this made me feel very accomplished.

At any rate, I only have a week left to find all the perfect little things to get these kids off to camp. I spent this morning at one of my favorite place - The Container Store - and I spent way to much money on organizational tools for packing. I bought my oldest daughter things that I know she probably will not want to use, but things that I just could not resist. Luckily my younger daughter is all about the "set up" and she thrives on taking an idea to the limit. There's still hope for me as long as no one teases my younger child about all her accessories. If she gets the minimalist attitude I'm going to have to enter a program or intervention.

If you'll excuse me I've got a trunk to organize......

Spring Break Camping, sort of

We survived the camping trip, though every single thing we took is now completely YELLOW from the blanketing of pollen that we received. You can not even imagine how much pollen was in the area we were. We were enjoying a nice overlook of a waterfall and the wind blew just a bit - a massive cloud of yellow came lumbering over the falls and continued down stream. The air was completely cloudly. Driving home the air looked smog filled and I was using the wipers to remove yellow dust from the windshield. It was bad.

We definately bought our fair share of Claritin on this trip! We did have fun, and one of the highlights was that we did not use our tent on this trip. Less to take, less to set up. And no, we did not sleep under the stars - you must remember I am married to a city boy. We rented a YURT. This was our second time using a yurt - it is like a round tent with canvas sides, but it has hardwood floors and electricity. Yeah, not REALLY camping....but we still have to do all the outdoor cooking and walk to the bathroom, so it's modified camping!

This is a yurt.

The yurt also looks really cool on the inside because it is a round lattice frame and has big cedar futons inside - it also has a sunroof on the top that you can pop up. We left ours closed to try to keep the pollen out!

While on our trip we visited an animal rescue where they have a unique animal family of fully grown Lion, Tiger & Bear - they all grew up together and live in the same habitat. They play together like overgrown kittens. SO FUNNY! They had lots of animals, including retired circus tigers, leopards, wolves, primates, pigs, deer, bison, zebra.....like a zoo, but at someone's house. They had a lot of property and it was just beautiful. Very nice!

We also visited Ocumulgee National Monument - indian mounds which was really cool. I like hiking, walking and being outside, but I prefer to do those things in the SHADE. Walking to the big mound was not my idea of fun, but once we got on top it was worth it. And to think that these mounds were built by hand/basket is mind boggling. There was also a mound where they held tribal meetings and it is mostly a completely original clay floor. Very creepy to go inside if you are claustrophobic, but I didn't want to miss it. I waited until it was empty and made Hunk guard the passage so I wouldn't get trapped and freak out. It was very cool. I took a picture in the museum of the re-creation of the interior because I was too busy trying to keep my cool while inside the real thing.

a long trek to the mound - no shade!

entrance into the mound, looks tall - it's NOT

a VERY LOW, NARROW path...eeeeeeek

And thus ends our Spring Break camping. I've decided we won't camp again at this time of year due to the pollen. I would've thought I remembered that we were coated in yellow at our camping trip last year, but I didn't. I think I have finally etched it in my brain.

Camp Out

I was lucky enough to go camping this past weekend. The weather turned out to be pretty good, not near as much rain as we expected and the temperature was just right the entire time.

This camping trip was for Girl Scouts and we ended up taking 21 girls. About half of them had never camped before and I must say that they all did SO good. We slept in Platform Tents, which if you don't know what that is - ummm, ICK! I am a big fan of the ZIP UP tent. I can control what is coming in and out of my tent. Platforms are basically wood decks with a canvas tent around it. The front, back and corners are all just tied together with ropes. It's like a flap tent that never fully closes. Upon our arrival, which was in the dark (we had to wait until school was over to leave, then a long drive, bad GPS, etc) I went to my platform and scoped it out with my flashlight - spiders in every corner, leaves and a ROACH! I can handle a lot of things, but roaches are not one of them. I 'almost' put up my hammock and just slept outside. But I plowed through and acted big for the girls. We have two Army issue mosquito nets which I always use for platform camping. The thing is that this was the first trip that I had BOTH of my girls and each one of them wanted a bug net. This left me out in the cold. I tried to share one of the nets with my littlest girl, but it was just shy of being big enough. I spent most of the two nights wondering if something was crawling on me.

The age range of the girls was 7 - 13, the little ones were SO EXCITED. I decided to split up the ages and do separate things with them and, by far, the most fun was the Canoeing for the little ones. Many of them had never canoe'd before and they did fantastic and they learned so much. And got SO WET! It was the best!

I had to push past the fact that half of me did not want to be there, at all. Hunk had been away for the week and I had to leave for this trip as soon as he got home. We weren't on bad terms while he was away, but it was just off and things were just empty for me. I didn't want to leave, but I had to so it was another 3 days of separation. It was hard to put on the happy face all weekend, but I did.

We finally got our "time" on Sunday - late - but it was good to finally just be together and figure out why I was feeling so apart. Things are fine now, but it would just be so much easier if I could just SAY what I'm always feeling. I don't want to do that, I want him to read my mind and figure it all out, it just feels like it's not as genuine if I have to TELL YOU. Yanno?

Anyhoo, all is well now. And I'm ready for another camping adventure, this one just wet my whistle. Unfortunately, our weekends are chock full until the cold weather will appear, so I think I'm going to have to wait until spring. Boo!

Spring Break!!!!

My kids are on Spring Break this week!! Whooo Hoooo!

We leave tomorrow to go camping - I'm happy we are going, but it is supposed to rain on Friday and after our last camping trip in the pouring rain.....well, I'm not really looking forward to the wetness. I'm hoping that the forecaster will be dead wrong and it will all just blow over.

Today, we went bowling. We went to our local bowling center at 10:30 a.m. and the guy said we had to come back at 1:30p.m upon which we would be placed on a waiting list. So basically, we should wait 2.5 hours, come back and then wait for an indefinate amount of time for a lane?? No thanks. My other option was to reserve a lane for $15 - but that amount is not credited for any games or anything, soo.... we hopped in the car and went to the next town over (15 minute drive) and we walked right in and got a lane for as long as we wished!! The $15 would not have been a problem, but the entire bowling alley was EMPTY as he stood there and delivered this information. Apparently, a plethora of folks had called in and paid the $15 reservation fee for all the morning hours, but NO ONE was there. It just pissed me off that the whole place was quiet, yet we could not walk in and get a lane. The bowling alley we went to works on first come, first served basis - I liked that idea much better, at least for today!!

I didn't blog on April 1, however I did manage to get my kids really good for April Fool's.....at dinnertime I put some "mashed potatoes" on their plates with their dinner - which was vanilla ice cream I had softened and mushed around.....THEY TOTALLY FELL FOR IT! As a matter of fact, my oldest daughter covered hers in salt and pepper!! I didn't think it looked all that convincing, but apparently it did because they both got the surprise of their lives when they took that first bite....... I like April Fool's when the joke is not on me.

Cold

Still thawing out, will post more tomorrow!

Work

I am pooped. I worked a show last week/weekend and it totally kicked my butt. It was a Christmas show where different vendors rent booth space and sell their wares, tickets to benefit local charity. It is hard work!! We set up on Tuesday, rearranged and decorated on Wednesday and were open for selling Wednesday night all the way through Saturday. Then it was time to pack up, re-load the truck and go home. AND START ALL OVER AGAIN tomorrow!!

I'm not sure why I do this to myself.

It is fun and I can say that I met a lot of nice people that were either shopping or selling in their own booth. My personal favorites were the security guards that kept me entertained (my booth was next to a back exit that required a posted officer at all times). Every year at the end of a show I vow that I will not do it again, but then I always do. It is definately a money maker, but the toll it takes on my body and energy is insane. It also takes A LOT of help from my family - especially in the kid department. I think I saw my kids for an hour in a span of 5 days!! It is certain that there is no way that I could do this without Hunk's help and also my parents. They were all invaluable during this show - I hope they will stick with me for the next two I have coming up!!

The biggest plus to these shows is that I get a ton of Christmas shopping done by visiting the booths of other vendors. There are always some unique and fun items that I haven't seen at any of the regular stores so I definately get a jump on the holidays!

So, I'm off to re-stock my merchandise today (that means sewing my ass off), try to do some laundry and wade my way through our kitchen which is a DISASTER. I'd love to just collapse on the couch for a day, but I can't - it is covered with toys, so is the floor. Oh yeah, and the cat is screaming her head off, shocker. And somewhere in this week I shall find a way to pack for our camping trip. I think I will stay in the tent for at least 2 days and just SLEEP!!

Camping

Before I begin, I got a new phone! Should there really be an exclamation there? Not sure, because it was certainly not FREE, but nontheless it is new, unscratched, undented and hopefully I can manage to keep it that way.....

We went camping for the Labor Day weekend. I'm certain that my hubs will be blogging about our adventures, so some of you may get a double dose. I'm also certain that my recount will be significantly more positive than his. See, I actually LOVE to camp. Him, not so much. He just goes along for the ride and tries not to complain. He plays nice, but would prefer to be home.

We tried something new this time, because this was a last minute decision to go camping and all of our favorite spots were booked months ago. We found a private campground, within an hour of our house and they had 2 spots left. I did not, however, ask a lot of questions. I skimmed the website, they had toilets, showers, electric & water - we would definately survive. NOW JUST SHUT UP, because camping is STILL CAMPING, even if there are all those conveniences. YES, it is. We do NOT have a tricked out tour bus with flat panel TV's and hottubs - we have a tent, but I will NOT pee in the woods. I'm too old for that. I also like LIGHTS because nothing is more frustrating that trying to find something in the dark. Electricity is something I do not REQUIRE, but I find it necessary for being a Happy Camper.

So, we drove to the campground and found it to be less than expected. It was basically a big pasture with hookups scattered around. I like to camp with lots of trees, so I was a bit disappointed, but I'm still camping. We were assigned a site and when we found it, it was just a grassy area on the edge of the pasture. We had been assigned PRIMITIVE camping in direct sunlight. I did not ask about electric/water sites before I booked - my fault. We have never camped primitively so I drove back around to the office and worked some magic. We got a different site, under some trees and it was close enough to an electrical outlet that we could share with another site provided we had a long extension cord (uhm, hell yeah, I had FOUR - I like my lights....). The very best part of this was that it was right along the edge of the RIVER - whooo hooo! My kids were ecstatic! We set up camp and then decided that it took so long to do all this we would go out to dinner, rather than cook on the fire. We then headed off into town to get Mexican food. "Now THIS is camping!", says the hubs.

The local town is Dahlonega, Georgia - where both hubs and I attended college. Dahlonega is a Gold Mining town and there are many mines and tours and lots of panning for gold. There is a gold museum right in the center of the town. Since our campground was right on the river we encountered quite a few folks panning for gold. Many of them were campers like us, just playing around, but we also found that there are still many people that pan for gold on a daily basis. And they take it quite seriously. This one guy looked as though he had been doing this his entire life. He said he has actually found some pretty good gems and nuggets in his day. He was literally the poster child for gold panning, every single mine ad has a graphic of an old guy with a hat and a big long beard......

On Saturday we began to notice who else was camping at this place - there was a group of 10 families that had overtaken the place. The owner said these folks come twice a year and it is like a big reunion for them. How fun! Yes, they were definately having fun - a lot of LOUD fun. The difference in camping here, than in other places we've been, were the rules of camp ground etiquette. The owners here were laid back and didn't enforce any quiet hours. Lucky for me, I am mostly deaf, so the noise didn't bother me at all. The big group of folks were also Nascar fanatics, they displayed all of their Nascar flags and one guy actually had a Nascar themed picnic table that he brought to the campground. Now, bringing a picnic table is not that weird, but this picnic table was more than just a picnic table.....it was on wheels with a chain driven motor! Yes, that's right, a DRIVEABLE PICNIC TABLE, with flags! The guy was riding kids all around the campground. He was really friendly, and he would take everyone's kids. So, yes, I let a total stranger with no shirt, driving a picnic table, nascar themed, pick up my two girls to go for a ride. Am I a wonderful parent or what???!!

This campground also offered tubing on the river - yipee! We were taken for a 10 minute ride up the road which amounted to a 1.5 hour float down the river in big yellow tubes. I don't have photos because I could not carry my camera without it getting wet. It was fun, the water was cold, but you got used to it quickly. The river was just beautiful and serene, the tree cover overhead was phenomenal. This was my favorite thing!

We found some interesting things in the river....we thought this was a potato and a granny smith apple. These were actually rocks. The kids got quite a collection while there.

Since this was a last minute trip I forgot to bring a few things, so our meals were lacking my usual creativity for campground cooking, but we did manage to bake in our box oven (biscuits and chocolate chip cookies), we had chipotle lime chicken & veggies cooked in foil pockets which we just sat directly in the fire pit, we also popped popcorn on our camp griddle and of course, S'MORES. We are going camping again in late October so this was a good trip to see what I needed to replenish and remember to add to our camping supplies.

Hubs took a really good picture of the mountain man, which I did not want to steal, so feel free to check him out later this week. I know he hasn't blogged yet, but he will and I'm sure he will have a whole different perspective on the place. And for those of you keeping up with his new sunny outlook on life, he did really well not killing our camping neighbors and we didn't even bring any happy drinks on this trip! PROGRESS!