Saturday, September 5, 2009

a-camping we did go ... a-camping we did go ...

hi-ho the merry ...
ok ... maybe not totally merry ... just slightly merry ... when we weren't freezing our behinds off.

things i learned during our final camping trip this year ... edited to add ... now that i'm writing this ... it's proving to be less of an "i learned" and more of a ... these are things i love ...


1.  it's nice to have a husband that slightly refused to follow his punishment of having the weather channel taken away for a few days after being crabby.  (stella did it ... not me.)  which allowed us to realize that it would be raining our first day and that it made more sense to stay in a hotel that first night and get to our campsite early the next day ... when the rain was gone.

... which was totally great ... except for the fact that we all slept like crap.  (i HATE hotel beds.)  i would have much preferred the rain slapping against the tent ...

... funny story though ... stella had to share a bed with boppa ... and in the middle of the night he managed to snort ... and stella slapped him and told him he scared her.  she thought it was a bear.



2.  it's always handy to have your camera in your hands at all times.  it helps you to see the beauty in things at any given moment.  and gives you an opportunity to share that beautiful thing you found ...

like these silly little flowers growing out of a tree stump as the girls and i sat waiting for the men to rejoin us in the car after securing a campsite.

the.  last.  campsite.  (we were just about as far north as we could go without requiring a passport.)

3.  i am dumbfounded that i am able to call this place ... home. 

well ... at the very least a slight jaunt from my doorstep ... kind of home.
in my state ... kind of home.

some people love beaches. 
some people love mountains.
some people love big cities.
i love green things.  and water.  and rocks.
but i also really love beaches, too.  don't get me wrong.  seashells and waves make me uber-happy too.

4.  i kinda like to take pictures of my feet. 
maybe because i can still kinda see them if i tip forward enough?
5.  and my family's feet.  although i have to admit the girls' feet are a bit cuter than my husband's.  especially when he rolls his pants up like a girl.
except ... thankfully he didn't tight roll and pin them ... and wear several layers of scrunchie socks.
that would have been a bit much.  dontcha think?
6.  but these two four?
i can never get enough of these feet.
and how grown up they are getting.
apparently cora has acquired some of her daddy's fashion sense. 
7.  if you look ... keeping your eyes off of books and your hand on your camera ... you can sometimes catch things that not many other people get to see.
and if you keep your shoes on in the car ... you can ask your husband to pull over so that you can get a closer picture.
and if you keep the door slightly ajar ... you can hop back in REALLY quickly when you hear something else in the woods just behind you.and hopefully you don't ever meet what it was.
and on a sidenote ... as a pregnant lady that pees approximately 3.2 times per night ... if you hear things outside your tent in 38 degree weather ... and you don't really want to get up to walk a 1/2 mile to the restroom ... you can really truly convince your pregnant body that it doesn't HAVE to pee.  but then you will have pee themed dreams for the next 4 hours ... when the sun finally rises high enough into the sky to frighten the critters away and you can jaunt quickly to the facilities.
8.  fence posts that surrounded trading posts such as this ... were not spiked to keep people out or to appear scary or anything like that.
they were spiked to permit rain and snow and ice (we live in minnesota ... we think about those kind of things in august) to slip down rather than rotting out the wooden posts.
interesting, huh?
9.  sometimes taking pictures of the sun does crazy things ... and i like to see what will happen.  because i'm oh-so-adventurous like that.
10.  two year olds ... no matter how big they seem ... get tired when forced to not nap and search for agates on beaches filled with multitudes of rocks.  and just for the record ... i won the agate finding challenge this year.  with an agate that had been clearly previously found and polished and quite possibly wasn't even a type that would be found in mn.  but the rules were never clearly set in stone ... and it was the prettiest of the bunch ...
11.  my girly-girls LOVE their boppa.  even if he snorts in the middle of the night ... like a bear.
12.  and finally ... camping with two little ones and pregnant is not particularly relaxing ... or even entirely comfortable ... when you are pregnant and when (see ... i'm not sure you understood me the first time i wrote this) the weather drops to 38 degrees (that's fahrenheit folks ...) at night ...
but ... the precious time with your family ... without phones and computers and tvs and video games ... is so amazingly worth every back pain, bladder pain and sciatic nerve pain ...
these moments flee.
i'm so glad i can appreciate and capture them. 

3 comments:

Pamela said...

nice belly, baby.

Anonymous said...

The recap of your trip was magical. It made me want to go soon! What wonderful memories you are capturing on your blog. I enjoy your photography, too!
From your neighbor,
Lucky Dog's Mama

P.S. It's fun to hear how you and your pregnancy are ticking along! :)

Casey said...

I'm glad you survived the pregnant camping. It looks like a great time, I haven't camped since high school!