Camping in January

I thought he had lost his mind when Bobby decided we were going camping this past weekend--didn't he realize it is January?? I was the submissive wife and didn't even put up a fight (because down deep I knew it would be fun). It turned out to be a gorgeous weekend for it. We sold our camper (on craigslist--love craiglist!) and upgraded to a camper that fits our family (and some extras) quite a bit better. We just picked up our "new to us" camper a week ago Saturday, and it was calling our name to take it out for a test run. So we did.

I must start by saying that this was the trip that if anything was going to go wrong it did. Our camping trips up until now have been a piece of cake...everything pretty much went as planned. And I liked it that way. Well, this one was the deal breaker. As we were pulling out of the driveway, Bobby said his famous last words, "I know we're forgetting something." I thought to myself, "No way. I've thought of everything", but I dare not say that out loud. And for once I really thought I remembered everything. About 30 minutes down the road it hit me that I forgot the coffee, and anyone who knows me knows I can't live without coffee. So we made a detour to Walmart before even arriving at the campground. Then lets see...Bobby forgot his computer. Not a big deal, but we were planning on watching our church service online Sunday morning (and he wanted to watch some hockey). Then the ball started rolling for things to go wrong.

We arrived around dinner time Friday night and it was freezing outside. We quickly unpacked everything and went for a quick stroll before calling it a night. Everything was good until we woke up early Saturday morning freezing in the camper--that's a problem because our heat was out. Really, does this have to happen now?? We just bought this camper and it is going to fall apart. So, Bobby spent quite a while on the phone with his brother trying to figure out what was wrong. Long story short...we had been running off the battery since we had arrived & now the battery was dead. The heat, lights and all the electrical outlets except 3 were not working. (I don't remember what exactly was wrong, but the place where we bought the camper is fixing it for free...but that didn't help us then.)

Okay, so lets just get breakfast going and try to forget our coldness. Pancakes & bacon was on the menu, but of course I forgot the syrup and who likes pancakes without syrup. I suggested we'll just do cereal and cinnamon buns. Oh wait, wouldn't you know it, I also forgot the cereal. So we had pancakes topped with strawberry jelly instead of syrup, bacon & eggs. We ate fine, but I was just frustrated. There were little things the whole trip that I forgot. At lunch I brought out the bologna and it was spoiled. By then the problems were just comical. There were other things forgotten & even more problems and accidents, but I hate to bore you or embarrass myself any further. But I did find myself saying, "Can anything else go wrong??" I probably shouldn't of asked that, because I found the answer was, "why yes it can" and the problems occurred all the way until we got home & unpacked.

The delicious pancakes topped with strawberry jelly, bacon & eggs.

Well, after another trip to Walmart to purchase a heater, we stayed around the next night, and I'm glad we did. Sunday's weather was beautiful. We got a lot of playing in on Sunday, since Saturday was partly spent trying to fix the camper. The kids enjoyed bike rides, playing football, skipping rocks in the lake, walking thru the woods, smores, campfires, and all the extra things that come with camping. We were the only ones staying in this campground (except for the camp hosts) so we had full reign of the whole place (Dixie especially loved it).

The lesson learned during this trip was have a good attitude regardless of what is happening. I'll be the first to admit that's a hard one. We, as parents, had an opportunity to live this out in front of the kids this past weekend. And I really think we all (kids included) did a good job at "using our lemons to make lemonade." We have no control over our circumstances, but we can control our reactions to them. It was a great weekend with the family, and hopefully our next trip will go much smoother.

Our lonesome camper.

Fun times.

Lots of bike riding.

The kids learned how to whistle with acorn tops during one walk thru the woods. Such talent makes a mother proud.

Dixie was in heaven. She got a couple of good swims in the freezing water.

And I always come back to it...the beauty of God's creation. We serve an awesome God.