Camping Trip Slide Show

Here's a slide of our trip...the "REAL" story is posted after...enjoy

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The Griswold's (aka Barrett's) Camping Vacation

This was the big camping weekend. We'd been planning this for 2 months, our daughter was excited to finally find out what camping was all about after we had talked about it for so long. This was the first camping trip with kids, as the hubby and I used to go often before we were blessed with children, so it's been at least 6 years...but the camping gear was still in good condition, so the trip is ON! This is the prettiest time of year to go, since the fall season brings out the most beautiful colors of nature! We decided to go to Mt. Cheaha, a new camping place for us because most all of our previous camping trips were at Guntersville State Park. Once we began climbing that mountain, our breaths were taken away when we saw all the gorgeous colors of the leaves! The excitement mounted! Little did we know, that was going to be one of the few exciting moments of the entire weekend...So we find us a camping spot at the bottom of the mountain near the lake. Not our first choice, but it turned out fine in the end. Hubby gets there and starts the camp fire, and begins assembling the tent. I let the kids out of the van to run some energy off and as the sun begins hiding behind the trees, they're getting cold, so we huddle up near the fire. Yes, we've been "camping" for less than an hour when suddenly, my 5 year old is bent over vomiting! OH YES! That NASTY stomach virus that the kids and I have been dealing with for the last 2 weeks IS BACK! I say a quick prayer for her to not to do that again. She would have been absolutely heart broken to have to pack up and go home...but luckily that was the only time. We made it through the night, even though it was 38 degrees outside and let me remind you we are sleeping in a TENT! But to no avail, we came prepared! We have an air mattress to keep us elevated off the ground, covered with an electric blanket (it's not camping without the electrical hook up and extension cords bringing you the warmth of heaven!), and the best little $10 investment we've ever made: a space heater that we had sitting on a small cooler that kept our entire tent nice and toasty ALL NIGHT LONG! As a matter of fact, my 2 year old got SO toasty, he was kicking our covers off during the night. OH-Did I mention the fact that the 4 of us all slept on that queen size air mattress???? Packed like a can of sardines, but it worked. Not much sleep for me, because every time my girl moved, I was panicked that she was going to vomit again, so I had to be ready! But we made it through the night all clear! The next day...I was thinking we were over it, and we all went down to the lake. Hubby was eager to teach our daughter how to fish with her brand new Princess fishing rod. She was eager to try. But disappointment ensued when there was not one bite. But I guess it's hard to make a catch when a 2 year old is throwing rocks into the water...go figure. Not long after that, we abandoned the idea of fishing and went for a hike around the lake...a good walk away from any restroom...therefore, the stomach virus comes back. But this time, it was the other end! (Yeah, if you have weak tummies, get over it! IT HAPPENS!) My poor girl was so upset, we once again, abandoned our hike around the lake, and went back to camp. After cleaning up, and multiple trips to the bathhouse that was luckily only 1 campsite away, it was official, we were in for the long haul with this stomach bug. LET ME REDEEM MYSELF AS A PARENT HERE! I know it sounds bad, but she wasn’t so sick that we had to come home, she was fine, aside from the multiple trips to the restroom. She was having so much fun, and frankly, we were too. So with only one more night to go, we stayed. Later in the day, I noticed the wind was blowing a lot. So, since we were “roughing it”, I got out my cell phone, and stood on the top of the picnic table to get a signal, & connected to the internet to find a weather report. Yes, the rain chances had gone up from the forecast I watched just a day ago. It was no longer a “slight chance of rain”, it was now “Thunderstorms likely, chance of rain 60%”!!! The doom set in. I begin suggesting we go ahead and pack up the van, not to go home, but just to have everything ready if in the event it DOES rain and we need to go in a hurry. Well, my suggestions were shot down. Fine. We’ll deal when the time comes I guess. AND WE DID! At midnight, it began raining. No problem…the tent is surviving so far. I fell asleep, and at 2:30 am I awaken to find everything on the tent that is not on the air mattress is soaked! We were dry, at least. I begin changing my clothes, and as I took the shirt off my back to change, the COLDEST raindrop hits my back and makes me scream! Yeah, not only do I have to run to the bath house in the rain to go pee, but now the tent is leaking from the top! Hubby wakes up, and makes the decision: Load up the kids, and the wet clothes, blankets, shoes, etc…he’s taking us home. No time for taking the tent down…he’ll come back. So by 4 am we are on the road in what can only be described as a monsoon, headed home. The 2 hour drive home was rough, and poor hubby had to utter the words I will cherish, and I’m sure, remind him of for years to come, “Honey, YOU WERE RIGHT AND I WAS WRONG”! So, will we go camping again????? Yes, but next time, we pack the van and be ready for ANYTHING! After all, I WAS RIGHT!

WE LOVE THIS PLACE!

Yeah, so I posted a blog last week about the Pumpkin Patch. So we went back this weekend with our sunday school class for a night time hayride and bonfire weinnie roast. It was a lot of fun, so I just had to post a slide show with pics of all of this. We look forward to doing this every year! It's a great time for our families!

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The Skinny Cow Girls

One week ago today, a few friends of mine got together to embark on a weight loss journey. We all are former Weight Watcher clients, but given our current financial status (stay at home moms), we can't really afford to go to the meetings, so we've decided to meet once a week, and conduct our own support group. Last week, we all weighed in for the first time, and got each other all pumped up and excited about getting this weight off! One of the girls named us the "Skinny Cow Girls", and that is indeed our goal! We will all take turns hosting the weekly meeting at our homes, weigh in, trade tips, and recipies, and give support to each other so we can all achieve our goal. First, I have set "small term goals". I would like to loose 10 pounds by Thanksgiving. I think that is a reasonable goal, and totally acheivable. At today's weigh in, I was down 3.4 pounds (WOOO HOOO!!!). It was a rough week. I had a hard time in the beginning, because I felt hungry all day long ( a mental thing with me, just knowing I "can't" eat was torture!). But by the 3rd day, I was doing better~no longer feeling like I was going to chew the cabinets off the walls! The key to it all for me, is going to be journaling what I am eating. I don't really even think it is necessary to write down the points everytime (which I most likely will do), but just writing down what you eat kinda gives you a visual of what all you're taking in. And best of all, my wonderful hubby is now on board, and ready to loose weight. We are finally on plan together! Usually, it's me and not him, or the other way around, but finally we are both on the same page, so that is going to be HUGE! I absolutely need his support, or you can just hang it up! I can't eat healthy if I see him enjoying all the burgers, fries, and peanut butter! So, here I go, really ready to loose the weight and feel and look better....We won't weigh in for another 10 days because of scheduling conflicts with us all, but I will post another weight loss victory at that time! (The power of positive thinking!!) Until then....
J

The Pumpkin Patch

Time for the Pumpkin Patch!!!
My family looks forward to this time of year for many reasons...the leaves changing colors, the crisp, cool air when the temps drop, watching football, cooking chili on the stove, and going to the Pumpkin Patch! We love it! For the past 3 or 4 years, we've made it an annual thing to go to the patch together-dad takes off work, and we all go with the kids preschool. Every year, it's alot of fun. Every year, it wears us out! Every year, something new happens. And now, this year is no different. Hear me when I say, it's just wrong, I REPEAT-WRONG for it to be 90 degrees in October!!! Just last week, it was so cool at night, it crossed my mind to put an extra blanket on the bed...and now, it's so hot I was on the verge of melting while searching for the perfect pumpkin (2 perfect pumpkins, in fact) for my perfect pumpkins! Why did I dress us all in bluejeans????? BECAUSE IT'S OCTOBER! But, you would think, living in the south like we do, I'd be used to it by now...I guess it's just wishful thinking. But, we survived, even if I had to peel the clothes off us when we got home! (And it's a miracle we made it home, because yes, I LOST MY KEYS WHILE WE WERE THERE! Thank you to the dear soul who wanted me to go home today and turned them in!!!) We had a great hayride, the kids played in the "jumpy things", my little girl was able to ride the ponies-her favorite thing, and a local Fox station was there doing a story and interviewed my dear darling and 2 of her friends...who knows what they'll actually use on the air, but it's supposed to be shown on the news next week. All I know is my girl was acting like a ham! She did a great job! When the reporter asked what she was going to be for Halloween, she said "Hannah Montana!" and started singing the theme to the show! "You get the Beeest of both worlds!" I know I'm prejudice, but she was so cute! What did I expect, right? Hehe! I can't wait to see the news segment! My baby is a star!!

Vacation?????

When I was small, vacations were what your parents took to get some rest, and relaxation away from the daily grind. Now that I'm an adult, vacations are usually anything but that! This past weekend, my hubby and I took the kids to Atlanta to visit with friends, and to go to the Georgia Aquarium. To me, it sounded good. My husband desperatly needed the time away because he consumes all of his day and night worrying about his hectic, stressfull job and then adds more work to that by taking on side jobs for the weekend, so we can have a little more money and try to stay on top of everything. So a weekend away was just what the doctor (me) ordered! We set out friday afternoon, and begin driving the short trip to the state next door...the kids were excited, hubby was slightly relieved that noone could call him and ask that he do something, and I was stoked that the fam was going to spend quality time together for 3 days straight! Just as we drove past the state line, we run into construction on the roads, and traffic is backed up. I'm cool with that...until the "cool" ran out. The engine on our van began running hot (again! it did it back in February of this year when we drove to Orlando, and ended up costing $2000 to get our air conditioner fixed!), the air blowing our of the vents was anything but cold, and we had to sit in traffic and watch the needle tick further and further up. I was saying silent prayers to the Lord, and finally the traffic started moving and we were able to see the needle tick back down (but only after rolling the windows down and turning on the heat. I'm a woman, and I don't quite get why that works because I dont' understand "car talk" but I'm just glad it did work.) So we made it to our friends house, unloaded the car and spent the evening celebrating a birthday for my hubby's childhood friend. It was really a great night. The next day, we headed out to the Georgia Aquarium. Now for the most part, I don't really enjoy aquariums. To me, it's just one fish right after another. I've been to the aquarium in Chattanooga, Nashville, and New Orleans, and they were all the same to me (best one being NewOrleans if I had to choose). Well, for the most part, we all enjoyed our visit to the aquarium, but we all had the same complaints...First of all-GEORGIA PEOPLE ARE RUDE(more specifically-Atlanta people!) No offense to those who are from Georgia, and especially if you are not one of the rude ones, but I'm sorry, we had people running into us in this very crowded space and rarely did we hear anyone say "excuse me" to us. There were even people running over the kids and then looking disgusted that they shared the same air space with them. It's definatley not the southern hospitality that we are used to. And our second complaint is for the aquarium itself...the flow of traffic is pathetic! We walk into this large circular center court, and all along the walls are the different areas of attractions. The flow of traffic was fine once you got into the different types of aquariums, but if your in the centre and need to go to the restroom: GOOD LUCK!
At the end of the day, my dawgs were barkin'!!! I felt like I had been at Disney World for 5 days straight and all that walking was going to be the death of me! But overall, it was a great trip. We finished Sunday off at the North Georgia State Fair, and once again, the feet were tortured. It was a fun, and exhausting vacation. Vacation? There is that word again. So maybe I need to come up with a better word. It wasn't relaxing...but we still had a blast!
J