that one time we went camping this year

For the first time in three years, we went camping last weekend. I admit, it's more like "trailering" than "camping" these days, but I wouldn't have survived more than half a night in a tent. Four days and three nights would have been out of the question.

It was dirty, smoky, not so warm. We made s'mores, Laci ate half a bag of marshmallows by herself, we skipped rocks.  Laci learned to cast her fishing pole by herself. Mia was not allowed to drive the Jeep alone. Luckily for her, there was an abundance of little drivers willing to take her for a ride. The girls were filthy 99.9% of the time, and loving it.  They also had disgusting, dirty noses, which is sort of an issue with me, but I lived. Laci found her inner pyromaniac (makes her momma proud).  And Mia learned to say "fire" and "dirty" very, very well.

I learned Mia does not sleep well unless she's confined to her crib, so the pack n' play was put up after the first very terrible night of non-sleeping. The kids had a great time and didn't understand why we couldn't live in the trailer forever. Clearly, they do not remember actually living in the trailer.

Now, prepare for many, many pictures of my filthy children.

 Mia fell asleep on the way there.  She knew she'd need to gear up for a trip like this.

Laci insisted she would not fall asleep.  After more than two hours wide awake, she almost conked out about fifteen minutes before we arrived.  Almost.

That's my girl.  And now expert kindling collector.

 Miss Mia and her chauffeur, Cousin Evan.

 

 Daddy showing the girls how to skip rocks.

 Filthy Mia.

 Laci can cast on her own now!

 

The light was so pretty, I took about a billion pictures. 

Then I got the great idea to take a picture of Ryan and the girls.

You can't just waste light like that.

And I got this.

And this.

The Great Stick War of 2013.

Oh well.

 Kids proving once again that you don't need much to have fun.

Mia, Evan, Laci, and Sydney.  All ready to go home.

I'm sure there are many memories I've already forgotten from our trip.  I hate that.  I wish I could remember all the funny, cute things the girls did, especially since it was Mia's very first camping trip.  I will remember she fell down the stairs in the trailer twice, and she didn't once consider that she might be too little to do anything.  And Miss Laci, this was her second camping trip, but her first one as a "big girl."  A big girl who would rather play with her cousins than her momma most of the time, but she still needed her snuggles before bed.

I didn't spend half the night drinking by the campfire like in the old days. No, I went to bed when the girls did.  Not only because I forgot to pack the baby monitor, but because that was as late as my body wanted to be up. It was a bit of a different camping trip than I remember, the first of a new era of camping for us. And I'm okay with that. Because of Ryan's summer work schedule, it will be our only camping trip of the year, so I'm glad we made it work. I only wish I would have taken a few more pictures of all the kids, and maybe a picture of myself. Because I was there, too.  No really, I WAS.

mother's day weekend

We survived the flu.  We actually survived it quite a while ago, but it has taken me over a week to start and finish this post.  Lame.  I'm trying, I really am.

If you left off on Friday before last, you'll remember we were lounging on our glamorous towel-covered couch.  So, it makes perfect sense that Saturday morning we took the girls down to the parade and stuffed them full of candy.  And then it makes perfect sense that we would take them to the car show and feed them hot dogs and cotton candy.  And then it makes perfect sense to wander around in the heat for a couple of hours until Mia finally gave up her fight against sleep and became a sweaty, HEAVY blob that I had to carry uphill to our car.  It was more fun than it sounds but it may have been too much. Especially the part about carrying sweaty, heavy blobs uphill while still not feeling 100%.

So, survive we did.  And we did it big.

 

(one would think I would learn to take pictures earlier in the evening when the children are still happy)

And the next day was Mother's Day, which was nice enough. We all spent the day together and had a nice dinner with Ryan's family. There was no breakfast in bed, no sleeping in, no afternoon nap, but I can't complain.  I got a picture with my girls, and that's really the most important thing anyway.

sick. again.

This is really what my house looked like today.

We have been hit with sickness again this week. The stomach flu this time. I would rather deal with snot than throw up any day, but it appears I don't have a choice in the matter.  Stomach flu = so much laundry.

Laci started throwing up on Monday. She seemed fine all day Tuesday and Wednesday and I thought we might have managed to escape a truly bad sickness. But early Thursday morning, she threw up again, and by Thursday afternoon, both Mia and I were hit with the pukeys.

I haven't been sick like this in a long time. So long that the last time I felt this bad, I didn't have to take care of anyone but myself. Ryan and my mom have done their best to help out, but sick little girls apparently only want their momma. Even if their momma doesn't want to move a muscle.

It's Friday evening now and it appears we might already be on the mend. Mia, bless her little heart, has been perfectly fine since her little feet hit the floor at 6:30 this morning. Laci gagged on a goldfish cracker first thing this morning and I was gifted my first two loads of laundry for the day. I spent most of the day on my blanket and towel covered couch, bowls within reach, because little girlies don't give much warning before tossing their cookies.  But thankfully, we didn't use them much.  Let's hope we make it a very uneventful night.

Oh, and if you'd like to see the face of sickness, this isn't it.  She is naked by her own choice, which is usually why she's naked, but I didn't object.  Less clothes = less laundry.

i lost my blogging voice...have you seen it?

It would appear I have forgotten how to blog.  It's like I don't even know what to say.  But, since I'm determined to get back into the groove of things, I figured I should start with something, anything.  And tonight, "anything" is four pictures of Laci doing her thing in front of the camera.