Camping....Do you hear that noise?

I never claimed to be a nature enthusiast, thank goodness. However once a year I join my sister and her family for ONE night of camping at Lake Sherwood. Tracey (my sis) and her family stay for a week and tent camp. It really is beautiful there and I love spending time with my family...however there is a limit to how much nature I can enjoy.

First, I must inform you that I enjoy swimming in things with a filter and chlorine....this lake did not have either one of those. I do not like things touching my legs or gently nibbling at my toes. The worst thing I'm going to run into in my pool is a vicious dragon fly or a thristy bee. So when I gingerly walked into the lake I didn't appreciate it when I was attacked by my loving neices and sister, and thrown out into the water where there were hungry minnows ready to pounce on me.

Second, walking a city block to the bathroom is no fun. Maybe when I was a young person this wouldn't have bothered me..but you carry three children in your body and see what it does to your bladder capacity. When I have to use the bathroom, I have to use the bathroom. I don't have the ability to figure the mathematical distance to the community bathroom and I can't figure out if riding a bike will help me get there faster or make me just want to pee myself.

Third, and this is the most important thing that I have to impart on you! When you wake up during the night and hear a noise....people who are sleeping do not care about you. They will sacrifice you and your children to the bear/squirrel/raccoon that is digging through all of your belongings outside of the tent. I was soundly sleeping....until I started hearing the rustling. To distinctly describe the sound I heard..it was SOMETHING digging through bags. Not a little something either, it had to be pretty big and NO I am not exaggerating. Now, my brother in law was soundly sleeping..so much so that his snoring was impeding my ability to hear the animal. I woke my sister who was alarmed enough to wake her snoring husband. To say that he was not happy is putting it nicely :)....he did investigate the situation and said it was nothing. Now he lays back down and starts back to snoring before his head hit his blow up mattress. Tracey and I laid awake, holding hands like the frightened fools that we are. MORE DIGGING..LOUD DIGGING...and it woke the snoring man up and he acknowledged that YES there was a sound. OK THANKS.

So I drift off back to sleep eventually...all the while thinking that there is only a thin layer of some canvas between me and something that is equally as nosey as I am. Visions of headlines ran through my head..."Mother of triplets mauled during one night camping trip"....."Woman who never camps found running screaming from killer deer".....You get the point.

I now realize why I enjoy my condo at the beach. The worst thing we may run into is a drunken college kid. Tarballs. Jelly fish.

July 4 What a great holiday!

Yesterday was July 4...so today is the 5th. Ok I'm going to be serious, it really was a great day. So many things that I enjoy were all crammed into one day. John is working 3-11 so that was the only thing that brought me down, because he didn't get to enjoy all of the holiday fun with us.

We started out the day by going to Sunday School. Usually there are about 6-8 kids, however there were only three.......my three. So I did my best to teach them the lesson and not threaten them to often. You know the church threat...where you smile kindly and whisper your words of "if you don't stop it I swear I'm gonna"....you fill in the blank.

After church we spent some time with daddy-o before he headed off to work :(...well someone has to fund all of our fun activities..sorry babe!

At 4 Covington had it's first "Red White and Blue Parade and we were there! Proudly waving our Flags (Thanks BIG AL) it was such a cute parade and that is the best way to describe it. Our town is fabulous, we may be small, kind of smelly, high unployment but we do try our best to make it enjoyable. Some complain that there isn't anything to do, but there are things you just have to make an effort to support them so they will continue and grow.
It was wonderful to see the veterans, and Buddy was so excited to see the fire trucks and Army Men with guns. The girls were thrilled by it all, especially seeing there cousin Sydney ride in her first parade as the Little Miss Queen of Hearts. We are so proud of her because she is as beautiful on the inside as she is on the outside. I was also thankful that they were allowed to throw candy, what kid doesn't love risking their life running out into the road for a half broken butterscotch candy??

Next we picked up cousin Rachel and hit the AET park for some bouncing and icy oasis. It was nice to see friends and just hang out sitting in the grass eating an icy, the only thing that would have made it more complete was if I hadn't been sweating like a pig.

Our next stop was the Morris Family Picnic. It was nice because there was lots of family and friends. Loved passing around Brady and watching my kids treat grown men like playground equipment. The food was yummo but then again I firmly believe I would eat anything cooked on a grill. As the night grew dark we moved to the front yard to witness the fireworks. I was really proud of Covington, they were nice and lasted longer than 5 minutes....I've been disappointed in the past. The kids loved it and the adults contemplated why fireworks weren't more widely used to celebrate other holidays. Why aren't there Christmas fireworks in red and green? Why not pastels to celebrate Easter? Lots of red for Valentines? I'm going to see if I can get the copyright on this idea.

Last but not least we met John at home and he put off some of his fireworks, we pretended to be impressed but after seeing the real deal in town a bottle rocket in the driveway just isn't the same.

Like I said it was a day filled with all the things I love, Church, a parade, icy treats, a cookout, and fireworks. Good times.