June 9, 2013

Dear Family and Friends,

This has been a full week... one that needs to be put down on paper of some sort.  Monday my sister T and her husband T were still in town.  M was off work so we decided to make a day of it.  We took them to lunch at our favorite burger places.  The restaurant is amazing, and the burgers did not disappoint, and they were delicious.  Then we picked up B-man from school, and drove to the airport where T dropped off their rental car.  Then we drove to the Udvar Hazy Air and Space museum to explore a little bit.  We had a great time, and were sad when the time came to drop off at the airport.  The rest of the day was pretty quiet in comparison.  It was a good thing that we knew we would see them relatively soon, so we didn't have to be so sad when they had to go home.

J after his last practice with his trophy.

Tuesday M was off work again, and we spent the day mostly working on various little things around the house.  That evening we had J's last soccer practice.  A friend organized a little team with friends where the kids got t-shirts and a trophy, but it wasn't through the city, just with friends. It was a great little experience for J, and he loved his trophy a lot.  Usually most practices he would forget that he was supposed to be practicing at some point during the hour and would run over to the play set and play.  That night after practice M and I went to dinner to celebrate his birthday.  The dinner was fantastic, and M had fun trying out every single flavor of lemonade that they had.

Wednesday M was back at work.  I spent the day trying to get things organized to go camping the next day.  I made our tin foil dinners, and gathered all the equipment.  I've decided that camping is really just moving on a small scale.  B-man had his end of the year party at school that day. I ran over quickly to drop off some watermelon for the party.

Thursday was the last day of school.  B-man was excited to be off and at school.  I watched a friend's kids while she went to the fifth grade graduation.  While the kids were playing, I did the finalizing of the preparations for camping.  M was working the day shift, so the plan was to pick up B-man and head to the campground on our own.  We would set up the tent, play and have fun and then M would join us that night.  I picked up B-man and our plan was going pretty well.  B-man and I were both pretty nervous about setting up the ten ourselves, but we were both praying that it would go well.  I knew it was supposed to rain, so I was also praying/hoping that the rain would hold off until after the tent was up.  About thirty minutes from the campground it started to rain and didn't stop raining.  We found the campground, and our campsite.  It was pouring rain.  I'm not going to lie, I sat in the car for a few minutes building up my courage for the job at hand.  Finally I got out of the car and started.  There was no way around it.  B-man and the kids immediately headed to a playground close by the campsite and were playing and getting wet.  Eventually they were too wet, and came back complaining.  B-man helped them watch a movie in the car while I kept working.  I laid out the tarp, got the tent out and started with the poles.  I had all the poles in and was just starting to put them in their spots to raise the tent when a man approached from a nearby RV.  He asked if I was putting up the tent by myself.  When I said yes, he kindly offered to help me.  I was so grateful, that I didn't even pretend to say no.  He was SO helpful.  He knew just what to do, and we had the tent up in no time.  Figuring out the rain fly took us a little to get it lined up, but at least by then it was on the tent keeping the rain out.  The man's name was Chuck, and he said that he had been sitting in his rv watching tv when he saw me pull up.  Then he saw that I was trying to put a big tent by myself, and just couldn't sit there.  Seriously an answer to prayer.  Not the answer I wanted I wanted the rain to stop, but Heavenly Father sent him instead.  It was so helpful.  Once the fly was on I grabbed a towel and dried up the inside of the tent.  By then I was soaked to the skin, and the kids were ready to go play, so I changed them into their swimsuits and we headed to the pool.  The kids were having a great time, and I wasn't.  But I really just decided to put on a happy face and try to encourage them to have fun.  The boys had a good time, and once they were done we sort of dried off, and then we used a large picnic area that was covered so that we could be a little dry while eating.  We had chicken salad, so it was a no cook night.  We then spent the rest of the evening exploring the (indoor) game center.  All the boys were watching others play games, and then eventually I let them all play one game.  They had a good time.  We then headed over to a different building to watch a live animal show that was going on.  The company had brought a snapping turtle, an alligator, and two different owls.  The boys were so excited and thrilled.  By then it was getting pretty late, and the boys were tired, so the

J wanted to do a silly face.

last five minutes I took the little boys back to the car and then B-man met me there.  It had been raining nonstop since we got there, and by now the car was smelling like a wet dog... but at least it was dry!  We drove back to the campsite, and then I tried to figure out the driest and best arrangement for our sleeping bags while the boys were in the car staying dry.  Luckily we all had some sort of pad that kept us off the ground.  The tent was mostly dry, but there were a few areas by the zippers that were leaking.  Eventually we all got in the tent, and the boys got in their spots.  It took a LONG time for everyone to settle down, and eventually I had to bring RM over and sleep by me because he was being SO wiggly and hard to settle.  I was so happy when M came in that night.  J and RM were both very wiggly during the night, and they both kept sliding into puddles into the tent.  At one point we had to take off J's shirt because he had rolled into a small puddle.  Luckily he didn't wake up.  But of course the boys were all up very early.  At least the rain had stopped for most of the night. 

Loving the fire, and no rain.

RM sleeping in a puddle.  He was a good sport.

So sleepy on the way home.

RM hates flies.  Good thing we got rid of them.

By the time we were up in the morning the rain had started again.  I had forgotten the cereal, and I didn't want to make pancakes, so we drove into the nearby town and got some breakfast.  There are some perks to camping near civilization.  I was so happy to be finally all dry and happy.  We gave M the tour of the campground when we got back.  We debated for a while about what we should do...  The pool wasn't open yet, and so we went to the jumping pillows.  The kids were jumping at first, and then when we were told they couldn't jump when it was wet, so they had a great time digging and playing in the sand around them.  We headed back to the camp and lit a fire when the rain was a little lighter.  We were able to get it going, and roast some marshmallows.  Having the fire cheered everyone up.  I had already told M, that as long as the boys were having fun we would stay, but I was not going to stay another night.  The forecast was for more rain all day, and M had to work all night the next night, and I knew that we were not going to have a good sleep, so I just decided that we would go when we were done.  Clearly I am wimpy.  But the boys were still having fun.  Once the pool was open we then went to the pool.  It was kind of cold, and I am really glad that M was there, because he made the kids have fun.  B-man was complaining and saying he wanted to go home, but M eventually won him over and he ended up staying in the pool longer than anyone else.  The waterslide did help.  While we were swimming I dried all our wet towels and clothes.  It was so nice to get out of the pool and have a warm towel and dry clothes.  We had another picnic lunch under the safety of the picnic center.  While we ate B-man was a mad man on the water slide.  Then the little boys went back into the game room, while B-man and M ate lunch together.  By this time the rain had turned into more of a mist, and so we decided to head back and take down the tent before it started raining harder.  It was a process, but with M it went pretty fast.  While we were taking down the tent M and B-man got the fire going again.  It was a decent fire with a lot less rain, and B-man had a great time poking and staring at the fire.  We got everything arranged into the cars and had a great time enjoying the fire until it went out.  The rangers came by and teased us about leaving after we had been through the worst of the storm, but there was no way I was staying.  Once the fire was out we headed out home.  There were a ton of flies in the van, and we tried to get them all out, but sure enough five minutes down the road the boys were freaking out (the sleep deprivation wasn't helping) so we had to pull over and try to get the rest out.  Once the majority were out of the car the little boys fell asleep within minutes.  They slept the whole way home, which was so nice.  B-man and M had a great drive home, and stopped at Sonic for some hydration.  Once home we quickly threw our dinner in the oven and then worked on getting all the wet stuffed laid out as much as possible in the garage so that it could dry.  B-man and M really vacuumed and cleaned out the car so that it didn't smell like gym shoes and mildew anymore.  What a relief!  As soon as dinner was over the boys all got ready for bed.  They all fell asleep quickly.

Saturday morning I went hunting at garage sales with a friend.  It was a good day.   The rest of the day we worked on getting things cleaned up and dried out.  We set up the tent in the yard to dry out and tried to get everything else set up too.  B-man had fun with a neighbor friend and the little boys were happy to read and follow me around while we were working.  Late in the afternoon we all headed to the pool.  The boys had a great time, and J somehow convinced some people at the pool to give him lots of snacks.  It was a little embarrassing.  We ended up staying longer than I realized and had barely enough time for dinner and bed.  Thankfully dinner was easy and quick to prepare.  That night M left for work and I worked on Primary things.

Sunday started crazy.  Things took longer than expected and we were a little late to church.  I hate that.  Then things settled down and went pretty well.  They called someone to do the nursery music, and that will really make my Sundays a lot easier.  After church we did our usual routine.  M was home sleeping and so we tried our best to let him sleep as long as possible.  We had a tasty dinner and then got the kids ready for bed.

We love you all!

The C Crew