where i’ve been; where i am; where i’m headed

Where I’ve been...

The boys and I went camping during the Labor Day weekend with some friends and had a blast. I’m not talking campers or lodges even though there were a ton of people all around us with campers. I’m talking tents, sleeping bags on the ground, sittin’ around the fire, the whole nine yards. The only thing we didn’t do was our business in the forest. The camp grounds had a shower/bathroom house for that sort of thing.

Red tent was for our friend Dave and his entourage. You could park a mini van in this tent it was so big.

These two tents were ours. Surprisingly Jose slept by himself in a tent (left). Cameron, Dh and I were in the other.

Just around our site.

Friday evening was spent setting up our site and the kids just messed around. Cameron didn’t know what to think, but he cozied up immediately to the idea of being outside all the time and was in heaven. Cameron is one brave baby. He wandered off twice; once in the dark. We had to find him with the flashlight which didn’t take long. He was behind our site with the campers. The next time he wandered off he was two sites down sitting on a child’s tricycle. Other than this, he kept wandering off like he was one of us. He just didn’t get it so that was frustrating, but lucky for us Dave and his girls were good about helping us.

My boots came in handy especially in the wee early mornings - glad I brought them.

The view from inside my tent.

It was so beautiful to pop our heads out from our tents in the morning and have these trees looming over us.

Our friend Dave had this hanging from a tree and the only thing that crossed my mind was, “Ahh, what do we need this for?” Dave is quite the outdoorsman so he had some excuse as to why he needed this butcher blade but I can’t remember what that reason was. If you knew Dave you’d understand – LOL.

The strangest mushrooms I had ever seen but so pretty - picture worthy in my opinion.

These little wooden bridges were spread out all through the trail - very cool.

We went for a mile hike the next day which was great. This was the first time I went on a hike and I really enjoyed myself. We saw all kinds of nature enticing sites, at least for me b/c I've never really done this before. I had a really nice time collecting acorns with Dave's daughter Devinee. We chatted and ooh'ed and ahh'ed over the size of some of those acorns (the squirrels must not have been doing their jobs). The kids played in the creek of course and I watched. I think it's true that it isn't so much what you're doing that is enjoyable but that the company we keep that make it so.

We had a good time...That is until Cameron had one of his meltdowns on the middle of the trail. [If you can click on the picture and enlarge it he has his mouth wide open letting all the wild know he's beyond pissed off.]

He decided he wasn’t going any farther. Dh had to carry him the rest of the way which was no easy task b/c Cameron wiggled like a worm the entire time. And wiggle is really an understatement.

Of course, here’s the happy camper once the hike was over ~ little rascal! At least we all survived.

Dh did a terrific job at keeping the fire going the whole time we camped. It even burned through the night enough that there was no flame going, but underneath the log embers were kept so that by morning he could throw another log on to reignite the flames. At one point Cameron decided since daddy was keeping the fire lit by throwing logs into the flame that his Blue Bear should help so in Blue Bear went. Blue Bear escaped with 3rd degree burns.

Somewhere….in a forest far, far away…Smokey the Bear is mourning Blue Bear’s injuries. We pulled him from the flames just in time before too much charring took place. We mended his injuries though and he continued to sleep with us in our tent even though he stunk to high heaven. BB made it home and Cameron continues to love him just the way he is – burnt and all.

We arrived Friday afternoon and left Monday morning. Each child got sick at least for a moment and I turned into Nurse Betty and a pretend mom but it was well worth it. I loved every minute of it and would do it again if I could. It rained our very last night which called for an extremely looooooooooooooooooooong night in our tents, but funny thing is that dh had his laptop (he was on-call for work) and we were able to watch some of Cameron’s cartoons – I know, not camping related, but welcome to 2009, right?

Not a fantastic picture, I know. Jose is being a weirdo and I'm taking the photo myself. Oh well...we're camping, what do you expect?!?! Glamour shots? :o)

Where I am...

Since I finished my Jane Austen sampler and she’s off getting framed I needed another sizeable design to stitch so I decided to begin a new one. Like I don't have enough WIPS...

I fell in love with Mayflower Landing and verse from Diane of Little House Needleworks. I believe I’m quite patriotic and the older I get the more my love grows for my country. US history intrigues me and I really want more pieces in my home that represent the homeland. I thought this design was very appropriate since it is about one of the earliest pieces of our history, and the colors are beautiful.

I changed the linen to 28 ct. Light Mocha instead of 32 ct. Putty, but I’m sticking to all the called-for threads which are a combination of Crescents and DMC. I started this a couple of days ago so it’s proving fun and fast. However, I’ve run out of DMC 3051 so I need to pick some up this evening when I’m at my LNS.

My mom is the sweetest mom in the universe. Right before the camping trip I received a piece of mail. It was the new Stacy Nash Merry Hallowe’en pinkeep book. My mom bought it for me. Isn’t she the sweetest???!!! I can’t wait to start one of these pinkeeps…and then the next and the next and the next. LOL

Where I’m headed…

This evening mom and I are attending moonlight stitching at our LNS with all our friends. I wasn’t able to attend the stitching night in August b/c my FIL was having his birthday on the same evening so I’m really looking forward to hanging with the girls and getting some stitching in. Good munching food too.

I know this is a long post but I haven’t been in the mood to do any daily blogging. Part of that is b/c my laptop is still out of commission so it’s difficult to sit at the actual PC and get anything done. Cameron has become awfully demanding these days and doesn’t allow it either. Plus, I've felt bottled up and preoccupied. Anyhoo...Talk soon!