Camping with the In-Laws

Sounds like a possible nightmare doesn't it? Well, it wasn't as bad as I thought. We are so blessed with a wonderful family regardless of the minor organization flaws. Ha. Let me explain...

We're camping on the edge of a cliff overlooking the Tennesse River in Tuscumbia, Alabama. It's in Aunt Diane's back yard which is the size of a football field. There are about 25-30 adults/kids. We have 2 travel trailers, a pop-up trailer and 2 tents. Doug and I of course are in a tent. It's a massive tent though. Would sleep about 10 people I imagine if we didn't have so much stuff. We are normally over-prepared. We have 2 air mattresses since my dog has be fit in the bed with us. (She's spoiled!) We have lots of clothes and covers for the cold (thank goodness).

So we get down there Friday night (around 8:00) and set up the tent. Everyone else is already there and has been there for a couple days. We sit around the fire and talk with everyone until bedtime. We're very tired since we worked all day. It's quite cold but we do have a sleeping bag. We get ready to go to bed. I turn my sound machine on to hopefully drown out all the crazy noises so I can sleep. No such luck. We are 1/4 mile from railroad tracks with a train passing every 15 minutes. Overlooking the Tennessee River on which barges move throughout the night tooting their horn. About a mile away from a steam plant with alarms and such. I sleep a little then wake up thinking I'm going to be frozen. It's cold but we're bundled up under the covers. The only thing cold is my face. My dog however does wake up shivering so we finally got her under the covers. As the sun comes up, so do the roosters down the street and geese flying above. We were actually the first ones up. Ugh. Guess I didn't need much sleep?

So everyone starts asking about breakfast. Ha. They finally start preparing it about 9:00. Mind you... we will be having a birthday party for our niece and nephew at 11:00. We all finally sit down to eat breakfast at 10:00. My sister-in-law asks me to go with her to pick up the cakes for the party at 10:15. She asks her sister to decorate while we are gone. (Party scheduled to start in 45 min.) We get back from picking up the cake at 11:00. Decorating is almost done and looks great. Cowboy theme. Andi Layne is turning 3 and her brother Wesley is turning 1. All guests start arriving but the majority come over from camping. We sit around for a while. Lunch is finally ready at 12:15. (Party started at 11:00) We ate, then played games which was so much fun! Bobbing for apples, sack race, wheelbarrow race, etc. They even got the adults to play. After that we go over to open presents. Slowly but surely all the presents for both kids were opened. Then time for cake. The candles have melted in the sun. It's actually gotten hot so ice cream would be good with the cake. Oh, we left that at grandma's house. Oh well! 4 hours later the party is over. Have we lost anyone in the shuffle? Ha. By the way, the Alabama game is on so all the men (including Pop Pop) missed the party!

So we go back to camping and trying to relax. The rest of the night is uneventful except the fun hayride. I love acting like a kid too. We are so tired from not sleeping the night before, we go to bed a little earlier than everyone else. Did I mention that they forgot to tell me which door to the house was unlocked for us to use the bathroom? Ugh. I finally found it before I peed in my pants in the middle of the night. Ha. So that night besides the fun stuff listed above from trying to sleep the night before... there are now mosquitoes in the tent with us. The only thing exposed is our face but they magange to find it. After turning on the lantern 3 times and searching the tent for them. We seem to have killed them all and finally got to go to sleep (as much as possible anyway).

We get to take family pictures and that was nice. I don't have them yet though. I'll share when we get them. Doug's sister has a very nice camera and took them all for us. We were very ready to go home on Sunday. Even though we had a lot of fun and good family bonding... it was on the verge of too much. :) This was the first of many annual camping trips in Tuscumbia. This will now be a tradition. Can't wait! Gotta love the In-Laws! :)