Day 1

Our day started bright and early packing up all the last minute clothes, coolers, and food we were on the road again. We met Grammie at her house and began to follow the RV down to our first stop.

Dave gave me the dreaded bad news of the weather we would be facing the night before. At this point though after five years I really should expect some rain along the way on the first part of our trip. It's just not my favorite way to spend the first day for sure!

The drive was an adjustment with Dave along trying to get some work done as we drove. While the first day has become a favorite of mine with the kids plugged into all their new music and playing DS games, this year was a bust. The night before we left, I stayed up until 1am to try to get the ipod I use for my music and our audiobooks working. It seems to have taken a dive. I was left with NPR and music from Dave's laptop for the first hour while I pouted. We'll definitely have to figure something out.

We arrived at our first site tucked up on the bend of a lake just after noon. We had been watching the weather all day to see how the rest of our day would go. When we pulled in Dave and I decided to hold off putting up the tents until the bulk of the rain was supposed to pass around 7. We explored the campground and the lake a little bit then headed off to the nature trail.

Lola led the way as we slipped and sloshed through mud and water up and around the lake. After about 20 minutes, we came upon a few buildings in a small clearing and I instantly had Blairwitch flash backs. We figured out they were actually archery targets after some super stealth sneaking around though!

We found another trail and after hiking in about 5 minutes we decided to turn around in an attempt to beat the rain. We were very unsuccessful with a downpour starting about 1/4 mile from our site. But not before finding two bags of trash and four painted rocks! Ryan is our eagle-eye rock-finder of the day!






Our resident chef Grammie cooked us up a delicious dinner! We were all very hungry and all ate until we were almost miserably full.

After about an hour in the RV, Dave and I decided to make a run to the car to prepare for the night should we decide to stay in the RV instead of braving the rain in the tents. When we make the decision the trees were dripping rain but by the time we actually made it out the door to the car it was pouring again and we got drenched. Then Grammie decided to inform me that she had two umbrellas after I peeled off my soaked shirt in favor of one of her dry sweatshirts!

When the rain slowed a little again , I went back out (with an umbrella!) and grabbed computers, a few movies, and the kid's pillows. We'd had trouble finding a local tv station and no way DirecTV wasn't going to work in the storm! Unfortunately, the DVD player was not interested in accepting a movie. That's Ok, Dave offered up his laptop to let the kids watch. Until he realized like most new laptops, it doesn't have a DVD player. I knew mine didn't either and Grammie confirmed hers was the same.

The kids were definitely losing their patience with us! We grabbed the umbrellas again and pulled the portable DVD players out of the bottom my jenga-packed car. As we came back to the RV for the third time dripping wet, Brayden looked at me like, "Why didn't you do this in the beginning?", but realized he shouldn't say a word when he saw the look on my face!

Within a couple minutes the kids were snuggled together watching a movie and the adults were able to chat and relax. We laughed at ourselves and talked about plans for the next day. Once the movie was over, we made up all the beds and tried to figure out how in the world this RV was really supposed to sleep 6 people. Dave and Laney ended up squished on the bed where the table once was, Grammie and Ryan were squeezed into the couch bed, and Brayden and I were tucked up together on the loft bed above them all.

Laney told us all a very bizzare bedtime story and the RV was completely quiet within a few minutes. As I was drifting off, I couldn't help but think how differently this day would have gone had I been by myself with the kids like the past 5 years. The downpour was definitely the same as the beginning of each trip, but today was made infinitely easier and absolutely more full with Grammie and Dave with us!

Quote of the Day:  Brayden walking next to me trying to explain why his knee brace ruined every picture, "Because there is all this good stuff...", as he motioned from  his head toward his knees, "and then you get here." No ego there.