Keeping Up With The Joneses: Pack Yo' Bags

Anyone who has known me, even just a day, can quickly come to the conclusion that I am not a planner. As you might guess this has created many failed relationships and frustration to those around me who are, but we all have our gifts and junk, right?! It's all in your perspective of what qualifies as gifts and what qualifies as junk. I like to think of my fun, impulsive nature as a gift, but some would fiercely disagree.

So as usual, a plan came to me around 10:45 on Friday morning, the sun was out, the day was beautiful and I had failed to get or do anything special on V-DAY for the hubs. Knowing how much he loves outdoors, and knowing how much energy it sucks out of you to go and do something like camp for the night, I decided I would be the one to get it all set-up and out there and he could just drive down after work and sit down and relax.Holy Moly!

So it started out with the note above... I dug through our craft bin, quickly cut out a heart and got as creative as you can get when you have 5 minutes before he walks in the door. I jotted down this note and stuck it in the window so he could see it when he came home. Poor man interpreted it as a picnic at Oak Mountain, and looking back he might have been just fine with that.

I will leave out the thrift store run, the grocery run and packing all with in an hour and skip to getting there, but there was drama in each of those events. Things went pretty smoothly once we were there and I just took it slow unpacking and the kids enjoyed playing on the "beach" where our camp site was. In February you can get a prime location at Oak Mtn State Park Campground...as always, we are s.w.a.n.k.y. ;)

Starting the fire was an obstacle. I had yet to really consider it, and in reality did not have time too. Google was of no help and the paper towels I thought might help burned in 5 sec flat producing.....nothing!!!

So, he got there and was our hero, we cranked the fire up and cooked hotdogs for the banshee's and then treated ourselves to Hamburgers. We all went down and I slept until 3:45 AM. Somehow I woke up on a rock that was the size of a knee cap and would doze on and off as I couldn't move from it or I would wake the whole tent. The weather was chilly, and up woke baby banshee trying to find his way out of the tent to the fire to get warm he told us. Cj pulled him in his sleeping bag with him and we finally all got back to sleep. We officially woke up at 6:30, after hearing an owl all through the night and what sounded like CJ doing a cannonball in the middle of the night into the lake while he was out for a potty break, he came back in a little freaked out and assured me he had not been out for a midnight swim!

In the morning we hiked, sat by the fire, played some more and then came home. I now have a camping hangover and 982 loads of laundry to wash. It was fun, but reality is I cried the whole way home because the hubs said he did not think two nights would have been a wise idea like I suggested we do the next trip. Really?! Not sleeping really sends me off on the crazy train. We both napped and now him and the gal are off at the sweetheart dance on a date and I am still in recovery mode and now in complete agreement that one night is enough.

The lesson after all this is....get outside. Engage people, engage your own little banshee's. Dare to do something that overwhelms you, but you know will be worth it. Go camp at a local park by your home, seriously it is the cheapest, easiest get away ever and my banshee's will be talking about it for weeks to come! It brought me joy to see their delight and made me, despite the camping hangover and bruises from rocks, want to do it again very soon!