Our Infamous Camping Trip Part 3

This is the third and final installment. And also, FYI, I'm going to gone for about 3 weeks. Hubby and I are traveling west with our SIL and BIL. We're gong to Missouri, Utah, SD, ND, and MN. I'm looking forward to having a vacation. Not sure if I'll be able to blog, so just in case....

Now, back to our camping trip!

On Sunday morning, after our little church service, we decided to take the boys swimming.  We took the five-mile drive to the beach, but when we got there, J.T. and B.D. were not interested in going into the water. They would not even let their feet get wet! Hubby played with J.T. in the sand, while I held B.D. while he took a nap. B.D. had not been sleeping for very long, when it started raining again, so we grabbed the boys and headed to the truck. It just sprinkled for just a little while, so when it finished, we tried swimming again. This time the boys were more willing to go into the water. They wouldn't go very deep, so hubby and I sat in about six inches of water and played with the boys. The wind was blowing and the sun kept hiding behind the clouds, so we finally left because we were freezing!  We drove the five miles back to camp, and got dressed into warmer clothes. But, then, we didn't have anything to do, and Hubby was going crazy with boredom, (this was before he learned how to relax)so we got back into the truck and drove five miles back to the beach and got ice cream cones! After a while, Hubby thought it was going to rain again. I thought he was crazy. There was no way it was going to rain again. We got back to the campsite just before a down-pour! It rained for quite a while, and when it finally quit, Hubby got a beautiful camp fire going. (He had suspected that it might rain, so we wisely put some wood where it would stay dry.)

I was the "veteran camper". We always camped when I was growing up, and I told Hubby that the best part of camping was sitting around the campfire at night, enjoying the fire and watching the stars. That was our goal, to have a campfire.

So, Hubby got a beautiful fire going. We finally had a campfire. But, we barely had time to enjoy it when it started raining again! When  the rain finally quit the second time, we had no more fire, and some damp wood. Hubby tried to get a fire started with damp wood, but finally gave up. Then he tried using charcoal. That took longer yet. The fire finally smolderred enough that it eventually started itself, but it was never really a true campfire.

After supper, Hubby wanted to fish a little. So, we all piled into the truck and went looking for a fishing spot. We finally found a place where he could cast out a few lines.  He started fishing. He cast out a line, waited, reeled it in.  Cast out a line, waited, reeled it in. No nibbles. No bites. Then, J.T. wanted to fish, too. So hubby cast out a line, then J.T. reeled it in. On the third cast out, J.T. reeled in not one, but two fish! (He was using a double hook.) That made the whole trip worthwhile! Little J.T. was so excited. However, Hubby did not like the fact that J.T. had caught two fish, while he hadn't even gotten a nibble, so we packed up the fishing gear and went back to camp to get the boys ready for bed.

Hubby and I played another game of Scrabble, which he won. Grrrrrr.  We never did get to have a campfire. Everything was too wet. And, that night, J.T. managed to wet the bed and fall out of bed, again! End of third day. (Sunday)

Hubby probably made 100 trips to get water in the three days we were there. Every time he got water, J.T. would get into it before I finished washing the dishes. He washed the camper, the truck, the camper again, and anything else he thought needed washing.

We originally had planned to stay until Wednesday, but on Monday morning, we packed up camp at record speed and took off. We didn't even eat breakfast! We stopped along the way and got some rolls and juice.

To top it all off, on the way home, I got sick. I didn't get the truck door opened in time and barfed all over the door! I was trying to clean up the mess while Hubby sat in the truck with the boys, with his ears plugged, trying to sing to drowned out the barfing noises, and dry heaving.

We got home before noon with no desire to ever go camping again!  And, 30 years later, we still have no desire to go camping!

Tweet

Our Infamous Camping Trip Part 2

I just have to say as a side note, that this story cracks me up! I'm so glad I brought it out of the archives. I'm just sitting here typing away and laughing at the memories. I hope you enjoy it! If you missed Part I, you can

just keep scrolling down a story or two.

During the first night, J.T. , our 2-year old, wet the  sleeping bag, and he fell out of the bed. In the morning, Hubby just about died when he found out that he had to drink DRY MILK for breakfast! So, he took the boys with him to find a grocery store where he could get some real milk.  Meanwhile, I cleaned up the camper, and pulled out the wet sleeping bag to air dry. When they all got back with real milk. we ate breakfast. Then, Hubby, who hasn't mastered the fine art of relaxing, was bored because there was nothing to do. So, we all loaded into the pickup to take a look around the campsite and find the lake. We couldn't find the lake, so we had to ask the rangers. They told us it was a five-mile drive, so we took it, and did indeed, find the lake. Then, we headed back to the campsite for lunch. After we got to the campsite, some friends had stopped by to see us, so we invited them for lunch. Hubby barbecued some hamburgers, and just as we started to eat, it started to rain. So, we ate quickly, then dashed into the camper. Imagine the fun of four adults, two active toddlers, and one very talkative pre-teen boy, all crammed together into a small, sweaty, steamy, humid camper.  The rain continued for half an hour. When it finished raining, our friends left. 

We then decided to drive to the mall (yes, I know we were camping), to see the movie, "Annie", then go to a Mexican restaurant our friends had told us about. We got to the movie too late to see the 1:30 show, so we walked around the mall until the next show.  Both boys were sleeping when we got to the mall, and we should've gone ahead and gone to the movie. (You know what they say about hindsight!) But, we waited until our sweet boys were WIDE AWAKE. Talk about disaster!

J.T.  wanted to sing "Power in the Blood" again, and B.D. (age 14 mos.)spent the entire movie saying da-da-da-da-da as loud as he could. (Usually, it's so sweet when they say da-da.) He was louder than the movie. Hubby finally gave in and bought some popcorn, hoping that would calm them down. He originally didn't want to get anything, because we planned to eat right after the move, and we didn't want to spoil their appetites. As Hubby was handing the box of popcorn to J.T., J.T. knocked it out of Hubby's hands (accidently), and popcorn went flying all over the floor. There was half a box left, so them kept them quiet for awhile. Hubby figured it was worth the investment, so he bought another box of popcorn when that was emptied. When Hubby brought the popcorn back, he put half of it in the original box and gave it to B.D., then he gave the other box to J.T.  J.T. took his box, and very calmly poured it right out onto the floor! By this time, Hubby was about ready to be committed! Between the two of us, we probably made about ten trips out and back into the theater. (I know, I know. We probably ruined the movie for those sitting around us. But, we just wanted to do something special for our boys. Don't judge us too harshly.) I was out with B.D. during the last 10 minutes of the movie, so I never did see how it ended. We were never so glad for a movie to be over. We hurried out and loaded ourselves into the truck and headed off to fill our tummies with Mexican food. The boys were real good on the drive over to the restaurant, but it ended when we walked through the restaurant doors!

We thought the movie was disastrous! We had no idea how bad it would get. The first thing J.T did was to head straight for the lady who was sitting next to us, to grab for her sunglasses and keys. Then we had to play musical chairs because J.T. wanted to sit by his Daddy. We ordered our food, and that went O.K., and we waited for our food to arrive. Then, B.D. our quiet little boy, started in for a crying fit. He cried and cried and couldn't be consoled for anything. The waiter was superb. He brought  B.D. a balloon; that didn't work. Then he brought him a dish of fruit. That helped, but as soon as the fruit was gone, the crying started again. The waiter even tried to hold him so I could eat, but that didn't help either. Hubby inhaled his food, took the boys and left me to finish my dinner and pay the bill. We were so embarrassed. B.D. had never done anything like that before. When I got out to the truck, Hubby was holding B.D. who was now, just as calm as could be. Hubby had taken off B.D.'s shoes, and it seemed to solve the whole problem. He was an angel the rest of the night.

On the way back to camp, we decided we would not attempt to go to church in the morning. We decided it would be less nerve wracking if we just had a nice, quiet service at camp. so Hubby stopped at the store and got some things for communion . The boys went to bed at a fairly decent time, although J.T. had to be coaxed to sleep. They were sleeping by 10:00. It was too wet outside from the rain to have a campfire, so we sat in the camper and played Scrabble. It was a lot of fun even though Hubby beat me at every game. That night it was B.D. who soaked the sleeping bag, and fell out of bed as well.  End of Second Day.  (Saturday)

What could possibly happen next???

Tweet

No, I am not trying to steal this car!

Here's a short yet slightly humiliating story. I learned something very important.

Last night, Hubby and I stopped at a Sears store at the mall. They are having a big sale on drills, and he wanted to get one. Nothing is more boring to me than looking at power tools, so I had planned to stay in the car while he ran in to make his purchase.  My Amazing Daughter called on my cell phone just as we pulled into the parking lot.  As Hubby got out of the car, I subconsciously noticed that he grabbed the keys and locked the doors. I briefly thought, "I hope I don't need to roll down the window before he gets back", then continued on with my conversation.

The conversation ended, so I picked up my crossword puzzle book and started working on a puzzle.  I was on quite a roll, filling in almost every blank without having to look in the back for the correct answer.  (O.K. I admit, it was a book of easy crosswords, but it did sound impressive for a split second, didn't it?) I digress. The car started to feel a bit stuffy, and I knew I couldn't roll down the window, so I opened the door, which was locked.  BIG MISTAKE.

That dumb security horn started blaring.  HONK!            HONK!                 HONK!      HONK!
Oh snap! How do I turn that thing off?  I start looking around the dashboard, pushing every button I see, hoping it will stop the noise.  I decided to text Hubby, hoping he was close enough to hit the panic button to stop the racket.  Then the horn starts honking in different rhythms, rhythms I've never heard before and hope to never hear again!  HONKHONKHONKHONK     HONK      HONKHONKHONKHONK  HONK
It was horrible! It's hard to think with that much noise going on. Then I decided to pull out the car manual and look it up, but didn't know quite what to look under.  HONK    HONK    HONK  I'm still trying to find the "off" button on the dash. (Turns out there isn't one!)  I decided to call Hubby again. Just as I finish dialing, way in the distance, I see him coming.  (He said as soon as he heard the honking he knew it was me. What? Why?  Oh well, he was coming.)  Then I turned to my right, and saw a police car, and a police man (was his hand near the gun?? I can't be sure, but, maybe.) walking toward me.  I turned my head a little more to the right, and saw another police car! TWO police cars?  How embarrassing!

I looked up from the car manual on my lap, and said rather sheepishly, "I don't know how to turn it off!"  He said, "So, you're not trying to steal this car?"  Ummm, No, sir.  Thankfully, Hubby arrived about the same time as the police. Of course, it would have been much better if he had arrived first!  But, he vouched for me, and turned off that blaring honking!

So, a word of advice. If you ever find yourself sitting inside a locked car, make sure you unlock the door before opening it! Duh!

Tweet

Our Infamous Camping Trip Part 1

It's camping season, so I thought I would share this little adventure with you. This was my first and last camping trip with Hubby. You will soon see why.

The week of August 8, 1982 was when Hubby's vacation officially began. We had friends who were going to be married on August 6. We wanted to go to the wedding, and we also wanted to go camping, so we decided to combine the two events. We found a state park near the wedding location. Our plan was simple: Leave as soon as Hubby came home from work, drive to the campsite, set up camp, and get ready for the wedding. Why that seemed like such a good idea at the time, I can't imagine. I should mention that  J.T. was 2 years, 4 months; B.D. was 14 months, and I was five months pregnant.

Hubby got home from work around 1:30 in the afternoon. The campsite was about a two hour drive, so I wanted to have everything packed and ready to go. I was very pleased with my efficiency. Everything was packed in the camper, and the boys and I were ready to go. This is no small accomplishment with two toddlers running around. Hubby just had to crank down the camper, hook it up to the truck, then get cleaned up. That all went very smoothly, and right on schedule (much to my surprise), then Hubby got out of the shower. He yelled out to me, "Honey, would you bring me some clothes?"  fully expecting and trusting me to accommodate his needs. I suddenly went very pale, and felt very, very sick. I realized that I had packed  all of his clothes in the camper, which was now very securely closed up, cranked down, and hooked up to the truck! He had nothing to wear! I wanted to be sure I didn't forget anything, and I certainly didn't! I wanted to impress hubby with my efficiency, but I got the distinct feeling that "impress" was not quite the word he was thinking! Anyway, we scrounged around the house trying to find something, anything he could wear. We did find an "outfit".  He ended up wearing an old, raggedy t-shirt, and some old cut-offs, which at one time were white, but were now a dingy gray with just a hint of pink, due to the unfortunate circumstance of being washed with something red! To make matters worse, the cut-offs had a hole in the behind. He had no underwear, no socks, and his big, heavy workboots! Needless to say, he was not too pleased with my through packing  job. He was a sight to behold! I just wanted to be sure he had plenty of clothes for the week! He finally decided that he would be in the truck, so no one would see him, and he slightly forgave me.

We left the house by 3:00 and found the camp site with no major problems, which was nothing short of a miracle!  We arrived at the campgrounds two hours later, but then we realized, with a fair amount of horror, that Hubby would have to get out of the truck to register for a camp-site! So, he decided that if he took off his boots and went in barefoot, he would look less like a hillbilly! I waited in the truck with the boys, and waited and waited, and waited, for what seemed an eternity.  They finally found an available campsite for us. If we had been just 10 minutes later, we probably wouldn't have gotten anything. (At the time, we thought we were lucky that we got there "just in time".)

We got our campsite set up, had a bite to eat, then got dressed for the wedding. We left in plenty of time, to allow for getting lost. We did get lost, which came as no surprise.  However, as we sat at a stop sign looking at a map, a woman in a van stopped to see if we needed any help. It seems we turned right when we should have turned left, so we followed her back to town and found the church building in plenty of time. In fact, we had too much time, because by the time the wedding was ready to start, we had two restless boys.  J.T. wanted to sing "Power in the Blood", and B.D, kept throwing the attendance cards, and various other things on the floor.  Hubby finally had to take J.T. out, just as the bride was saying her vows. After the wedding and reception, we were ready to get back to camp and get the boys to bed. B.D. slept most of way back, so by the time we got to the camp, he was wide awake! It took me a while to get him back to sleep. Hubby and I were so tired, we just went to bed, too. End of first day.

Stay tuned for Day Two!

Tweet

Face it Friday Week 24

Time to see how I am doing with my goals for the year. Two of my goals can be crossed off the list. Yay!

My first goal that I was forced to completed, was editing Jennee's book.

(I am currently getting my nose taped by Sweetie Pie. And now, it's Mickey Mouse's turn! This is why I haven't blogged while she's here!!)

Anyway, where was I?  Oh yeah, Jennee's book.  I finished it, practically at gunpoint, but I did finish at the appointed time. She had a set time on when she wanted the first draft finished. She kept prodding me, and reminding me, and telling me she was almost caught up with me, until she successfully got me to the end. Whew! I enjoyed her story, and think she did a great job on her first attempt. Now, it's time for the second edit. She hasn't given me a deadline (yet), but I plan to start in a week or so.  

My second goal was to learn the words to Joseph Hayden's "TeDeum", a 33-page musical composition with the lyrics in Latin! Our concert was on May 7.  We started rehearsals in January, and I thought there was no way in the world I would ever, ev-er, be able to sing it. Several people dropped out of the chorus because of that song, but the rest of us persevered. We had several extra practices, and we did, indeed, sing the song fairly well at the concert. Our director was pleased, and, in reality, only he and we knew how hard we worked on it. Even Hubby did not fully appreciate how hard we worked. If a song is not sung in English, he has no use for it. Afterwards, I asked how it sounded. He said he didn't know what we were singing about, I said, "Neither did we!" He said he was so involved in reading the English translation, which was provided in the program, that he didn't pay attention to the song! Thanks, Sweetie!  Oh well. I know how hard I worked and feel like I accomplished something.   "non con fun dar..."

If you're interested, here is a group that sings it really well.

For the record, our group does not look as polished and refined. We're just a bunch of grey-haired, small-town folks, singin' our hearts out.

I'm in the back row. It looks like I'm alone, but I'm just surrounded by short people.

Now, I need to refresh my memory and see what else I'm supposed to accomplish for the year!

Tweet

Thanks to my amazing daughter, Jennee, www.jenneethompson.com for writing a blog for me.  I've been a little preoccupied with my granddaughter, Sweetie Pie, aka "the Holy Grandchild". She is a cross between Pollyanna and the tasmanian devil. Kinda. That doesn't sound very nice, but what I mean is that she is perpetual motion, and she's as sweet as she can be. She doesn't stop moving from the time she gets up (7:30) until she drops asleep (10:00 - 11:00).It's almost 10:00 now, and she's watching "101 dalmations" with her "boyfriend" Uncle B. Her mom claims she goes to bed at 8:30, but, when she's with us, she is no where near ready to go to bed at 8:30. (Maybe that is partially our fault, but I'll deny it!)

She is in love with Uncle B. He talked to her on the phone today, and all she did was make funny noises. (She's four.) When I asked her why she didn't talk to him, she said, "I just get so excited that I can't talk".

And, 10:00 at night is not my best time. (yawn)  My brain is ditzier at night, so I apologize for the dis-jointedness of my blog.

We have a small crisis on our hands. Tomorrow we must look for "baby jaguar". He's been missing for three or four days now, but she's had new, tiny, puppies (of the dollar store variety) to sleep with, and they have replaced baby jaguar. However, when she goes home, she'd better have baby jaguar.

My poison ivy keeps rearing its ugly head, but it's not too bad, just annoying. The garden did not get washed away from all the rain, and I hope to give a full report, along with pictures in the near future.

Good night. I'll try to write a better blog next time!

Tweet

Guest Post from Jennee and yes, she really is amazing

So, I’m the awesome daughter that I’m sure you all have heard so much about. (Unless I’m just sounding like a fool here, thinking that I am being flattered more than I actually am…) Anyway, mom asked me to do a guest post on her blog and not only because I am amazing, but because, well, she has been too busy to post a blog and I have had plenty of free time to post more than enough blogs.

I know that mom likes to cover topics such as her garden, her grandchild (as I like to call her, the Holy Child) and her hubby. Well, I don’t have a garden, or a grandchild, or a hubby. I am 0 for 3 and that means, I have to talk about something that I know something about.

I have a good memory.

Unlike my mother.

And I don’t think my memory is good because I’m still young(er). I actually have the most unusual type of memory. I remember conversations and because of the conversations, I remember details that surrounded the conversations. I try to not be snooty when people tell me the same story over and over again, because when they start telling the story (the same way…why do people always tell the stories the same way?) my mind reminds me of the when and where the first time I heard the story.

The repeating of the same stories happens often with mom. Out of orneriness, I like to finish her stories for her…unless it is because she can’t remember how the story ends.

The other day my friend sent me a text message. She asked me if I remembered what happened during the summer of 1999. Nothing really stood out at first. She told me that she was going to counseling and had some repressed memories surfaced. She told me what she remembered and asked me if I remembered seeing this happen.

“Was it when we were standing around and Todd was showing us how he is a human piano and singing the lowest keys on the piano? Remember Todd said that he didn’t know if he could get the right pitch unless we had a pitch pipe, but he’d try.”

She had no idea what I was talking about. So, I continued on with what I said and that what she said and then what he said. This wasn’t the moment she was referring to.

“No, it was after we left the building.” She redirects my memory to earlier in the day.

“Oh yeah and Chris was saying how he is fascinated with Elisha in the Bible. And then we met that one guy.” I start remembering what I was wearing and that it was a sunny day and I felt uncomfortable in my own skin at this event we were at.

I ended up remembering what she wanted me to remember but it was only because I had to relive the dialog in the moment I was supposed to remember.

So, what I’m trying to say here…be careful what you say to me because I’ll remember when you said it, where you said it, the facial expression as you said it and your tone dialect. I guess this is why people disappoint me when they lie and swear they never said it, because, I know they did.

Tweet