Just call it Camp Dirt

In an effort to "get away" for a little vacation, we went camping for a couple nights. Back home, when people go on vacation, they load up the car, drive six, maybe eight or so hours, and end up at a condo on the beach. All you deal with is sand and who gets the first shower. Not our case this year.

Scott and I have done camping before. I don't mind "dirty"- and if you really know me, you know how I feel about washing my hair everyday...not required. We've both even backpacked, where you stay out on a trail for several nights with only the stuff on your back. But, since Will and Em came along, we never bothered to go camping; plus, we didn't know too many people who wanted to go camping when we could get a condo at the beach...



I tested my limits this week and discovered a few things:

1- "Talking when I'm talking" is not my biggest pet peeve. Dirt sandwiched under little fingernails are. And, when there are NO campfires allowed, no rain in forever, and your boogers turn black from the dirt and dust in the air, clean-non-sooty hands are impossible.

2- I am more like Kate from "John and Kate plus Eight" than I'd like to admit. I mean, when I'm yelling "Scott" from the river just so he can bring me a nail-brush or Will's clean socks (it was a lot like that episode when she yells at him at the Crayola Factory)... No matter how many times I'd tell myself that "it's just for a couple days... we're camping... kids are supposed to be dirty..." it didn't work.

3- The scenery from East to West is different- right down to the dirt on the ground. But, kids like to dig in it just as much. No matter how you threaten them, when you turn around, there they are- swirling it, throwing it, wipping it all over themselves.

4- The view is worth the journey. Dealing with the hard ground (we left our pump for the air mattress at home and my hip digs into the ground...), dirty hands and faces and clothes, and freezing 40 degrees at night... those were a few things that kept me thinking "Why would we do this?" But these pictures explain why we go camping agian.

Biding Our Time

Summer is still in full force. Will doesn't return until August 26...
Last week the kids and I were fortunate enough to spend some full-time quality time together. Scott accompanied our BCR youth group on a mission trip to LA. That meant we rallied at home- there were three other mom's whose husbands were on the trip- and sought out events to keep us distracted!

We started our week off pretty mild. We visited at each other's homes, made "play dough cookies," and baked homemade pizza. By Tuesday, we stepped it up a notch when we ran around Fairytale Town, and later we got our money's worth with IKEA's free babysit-while-you-shop and 99 cent kid meals! 9 hours, 8 tired kids, 3 large area rugs, and 1 heck-of-a-deal storage shelf later, we were home... that was a day to remember!

Later that week, mom got to come out!! It's so fun to show people around, so when we say do come visit- we mean it! We drove into The City (aka San Fran) to pick her up. I was dying to get to the beach, so we drove south into Santa Cruz for the afternoon. I can say my kids are well traveled- they've seen the Atlantic AND the Pacific (not to mention the Gulf of Mexico a time or two as well!). The ocean was so cold- but that didn't stop Will from chasing the waves. Em makes quite a good sunbather, I must say! (These pics are from Santa Cruz.)
Now, I didn't realize how much I missed home until I got a few days with my Mama! We were sad Papa couldn't come, but we took pictures for him. We went to the farmer's market, the kids' last swim lesson, and the outlets. Scott got home Saturday from the mission trip, so Mom also got to see him "work" at church on Sunday and she met so many of our friends. Then, we took off for Tahoe on Monday....

Tahoe is under two hours from our house. I really knew very little about it, except it was a big, cold lake where people go to snow ski in the winter. We had to see it for ourselves, and I am so glad we did. I can honestly say that was the most beautiful scenery packed into one day's drive that I've seen in a long time. God has an incredible imagination- the way the mountains run together, the peaks and falls; I've never felt so small! And then, when you finally break around that one bend on the mountian and can see through the evergreens, peaking beyond- WOW! The water's Caribbean-clearness, despite how cold it is, makes you want to stay!

I hated packing up, but we're planning on going camping next week with some friends, so knowing we were coming back made it easier to drive on that day.