The Return of Father's Day Camping

Alternate Title: I Love Mike So Much That I Agreed To Go Camping Right After We Moved Despite The Fact That We Were Surrounded By Boxes And Didn't Know Where The Sleeping Bags Were

[**Life Update First: RIP Ron and Hagrid the Fish. Sigh. It was as tearful as you would expect.]

There is nothing like trying to get organized for a camping trip when you feel like your entire life is in disarray. But we have proven that it can be done – with a little help from our friends!

We managed to find the sleeping bags, get some groceries, and be on the road to the campground by early afternoon on Friday. The rest of our group had set up camp on Thursday - but we had sports, work, and general preparedness to deal with so decided to just go up on Friday. The rest of the group was already at the beach, so the kids and I set up at the P's picnic table to eat lunch while Mike prepped the camper. This is why you go after others are ready!

They have since been located, but at the time of camping weekend, all of Mike’s levels had disappeared into boxes unknown (this is what happens when your movers think they are helping by grabbing stuff in your garage and shoving it into random boxes. It doesn’t help!). Mike has a level that he always keeps in his camping toolbox. Somehow that one was also sucked into the missing tools vortex. But a quick text (by me. while Mike muttered) to the other guys in the group helped us locate Dennis’ tool box. I feel like we are very good friends because we even returned the tools – despite the fact that we were level-less in real life.

Mike and I quickly got our stuff set up enough and then headed down to meet our friends at the lake. Apparently our timing was perfect - because the beach had been very busy and cleared out just before we got there! The kids had an absolute blast playing in the water. It was a hot and sunny day and the water was pretty warm as well. It was exactly the escape from the weeks of moving stress that we needed.

As Brad and I stood in the lake watching the kids swim that afternoon, he congratulated me that we had made it. I told him there was a 98% chance that we didn’t have propane for our grill. It was actually 100% and I knew that – but I wanted us to sound somewhat functional. Right before we started dinner, Brad showed up at our camper door with an extra propane tank. Don’t worry – later on in the weekend I totally paid it back by having a pen when Cheryl needed one to keep score for Yahtzee …

We may not have had a level or propane. But we did bring our slackline ninja warrior course - which was a big hit with all the kids! There was a running joke all weekend about what this said about our priorities. Mike and I told them that we embraced being the most fun! Ha! Day one finished up with birthday cake for Tiff, smores around the fire, a very late bedtime for the kids, and an even later bedtime for Mike and me! But sitting with our friends around the campfire was such a needed break. Mike may have been right about pausing the "to do list" and having a little fun!