We were more of the cottage /hotel/touristy attaction kinda family.
Vacations involved going places, seeing things, and usually riding something. Go-carts were almost always involved.
And then I met Tim.
In the early years of our dating relationship, Tim opened my eyes to the whole camping experience. We camped religously with friends 2x a year. Opening and closing weekend.... the first weekend in April, and last weekend in Oct, we made our way to Silver Lake with our BFF's.
I usually froze, it typically rained...but my oh my, it sure was a good time.
Fastforward 16 years.
It's hard to believe we've been camping together this long. We started out all those years ago sleeping in the bed of Tim's pickup truck under the stars, then a tent, a pop-up, and now 5 kids later, a camper. At the rate we're transitioning, there's no reason to rule out a cottage just yet :)
Labor Day weekend we once again reunited with our longstanding BFF's. And tho the long weekend started off really shaky...really shaky people... I can honestly say we had a good time. Despite the weather and circumstances, it was wonderful to be together as a family, and in the presence of such dear friends. No matter how many years go by, rehashing funny stories from the "good ole' days" around the fire never gets old. There's something so authentic about being with long time friends. Friends that have been doing life with you. Friends that we may not see very regulary, but are comfortable enough that we can pick up right where we left off. Friends that know your struggles and love you just the same.
Ellery's impersination of me the first 24 hours of our trip.
Just kidding, she owns this one :)
Well, our weekend of "fun in the sun" was scheduled to begin on Thursday. I spent the day packing the camper, delighting in the 90 degree, humid and dry weather forcast, and eagerly awaiting the kids arrival off the school bus and Tim from work, so we could hit the open road.
Once home from school, I fed the kids snacks to tide them over, because we always stop at a certain Mc Donalds along the way. It's tradition. Double cheeseburgers off the dollar menu for all. Our current order is 13, and I pity the day when the little ones actually start eating LOL.
Well, as the afternoon slowly gave way to evening, I continued to toss snacks at the kids, and finally @ 9:00pm I threw a frozen pizza in the oven, fed them, and put them to bed....disappointed and fuming.
Tim eventually made it home....fuming himself. He too had been really looking forward to getting out of town. Ludington is hands down our favorite campground, and we look forward to it all summer. Long story short, he hadn't been on his own job, had no control over the time, and things didn't go according to plan.
So, after some forced conversation, we decided to put our crabby, tired selves to bed, and hit the road by 8am the next morning. That way we would still have the whole day ahead of us to enjoy.
The next morning we left according to plan, and about 45 minutes into the 2 hour trip, Tim noticed a truck in his rear view mirror frantically waving to get his attention. We pulled over to the side of the highway, and sure enough, one of the back trailer tires had blown. Fortunately we had a spare tire, but sadly no tools to change it with.
So, Tim unhitched the trailer on the side of the highway, we ventured off the next exit in search of an auto parts store, and after success, made our way back around again to the camper. It had been spattering the whole time, and as soon as Tim pulled up to the camper, naturally the rain began to increase. You could almost hear the familiar "dunt dunt" from Law and Order, as he stepped out of the truck into the wetness.
Tim got things under control, and we once again were on our way. However, the clouds began to get more dark and ominous, and we made the rest of the trip in our own tense, cold, silent, "it wasn't supposed to be like this", ominous kind of way.
We made it to the state park.... our 2 hour trip had just turned into 4. Naturally as soon as Tim started backing the trailer into our campsight, the heavens opened up and it began to downpour. The kind of downpour that soaks you down to your underwear just like that, and forces little muddy swamps to pop up all over the dirt encrusted sight.
Like a champ, Tim faithfully set the camper up in the rain, while I waited it out under our friend's canopy with the 2 little girls. The big kids took off in an effort to see how dirty and wet they could get.
The rain died down, and Tim plugged the camper in, only to trip the breaker....hmmm, no power for us. (We ran into this problem earlier this summer, but assumed it had been the campground we were at, as we had never had a problem with our electrical cord before).
So, Tim took off in the truck to head into town to find a new cord. I huddled in the camper with 5 wet, stinky, crabby kids, who all had a different agenda for the afternoon, none of which included what we were doing....grinding granola bars into the couch, and assuring them we'd eat lunch if dad ever came back.
Tim returned a while later, with the cord and a 6 pack.
Our electric worked, the weather cleared up, and we all began to relax a bit. Our guarded conversation turned pleasant, we enjoyed the outdoors, and by evening it was all water under the bridge.
The next morning, I was almost in tears when we awoke to a thunderstorm. I was done.
After a while it cleared up, and tho it rained off and on, and eventually turned cold and windy...we were still able to hit the beach, hike, bike, fish, eat ice cream, play games, and enjoy our time together.
Some pics from our weekend....
Looking forward to next year :)
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