Labor Day Weekend

What in the redneck?!?  Yes this really happened last week...

Don't you just love when someone hypes up a game and then disappears and never tells you what happened?  Yeah me, too, says the girl who neglected to update her blog last week. So here goes:  THS did in fact win game #1 of the season in a nail-biter that never should have been a nail-biter in the first place.  We also traveled down south this past Friday and came away with another big W to start our season out right!

Raising their helmets to the Alma Mater

This week is going to be a HUGE test for us.  We're playing the defending state champs who are #1 in 4A (THS earned itself a #9 ranking in the state's top 10 list last week), who we actually beat last year at our place.  We know they are going to be out for blood this year, so we have to come ready to play!

The view from one of the campsites...not ours unfortunately.

After our big Friday night trip and win, we kept the fun going this weekend, loaded up the camper, and headed up to the lake for some Labor Day fun! We ended up going to the same campground we went to on our maiden voyage (since it's a quick drive from the house), but we felt like seasoned vets this time around.

These seasoned campers knew exactly what to do with their afternoons.

We stayed in a different part of the campground this trip that had more modern amenities...aka sewage hookups on site...but I am not so sure that poop pumps make it that much better (says the girl who doesn't have to empty the poop pump).  It was nice but it felt a lot more crowded this time, as we had campers and cars as far as the eye could see.  Lucky for us there was plenty of football on tv this weekend so our attention was drawn to the outdoor tv area our friends set up, but we all agreed that we need to move closer to the water next go-around (i.e. the waterfront campsite pictured above).

These two have decided to give up city life to become full time glampers....clearly they have it all figured out. 

The good news is that is was still very relaxing, and all of our teams won (cough...Tennessee...cough), so we're calling the weekend a success.  And no we did not haul both the boat and the camper up in one trip, but we did test run this set-up through town and I'm pleased to report we did not take out anyone/anything with our caravan.  The looks and phone calls we received on our trip through town were quite comical though!

We finished up our weekend helping the Vols pull through their ridiculous excuse for a football game on Labor Day.  Of all the games to go in to over time, it had to be the Monday night game.  I am just glad the GA Tech coach decided to go for 2 during the second OT (although that would not have been my call), so I could go to bed.

Can you tell who went camping and who stayed home and rested this weekend?!?  

Happy 4 Day Week!

Camping Tips from a First Timer

So we may be brand spanking new to this camping thing, but we learned a lot on our first trip out, so I figured I could pass on some of my newbie wisdom.

1) Bring quality chairs..... I picked up two cheap bag chairs from a sporting good store thinking we'd leave them in the camper. Well one broke the second night and they were just not comfortable.  We were quite envious of our friends' rocking bag chairs and 0-gravity lounge chairs, so we will be reassessing our chair situation for the next time - with these perhaps?!?. But my bag table with cup holders was a hit!

2)........and bring extras.  We had several folks come hang out since we were close to home and none of them brought any chairs so people had to sit on coolers or stand a lot of the time.

You never know who might steal your chair!

3) Go ahead and buy a full-sized garbage can up front....I thought we could get by with a small under-the-counter wastebasket but after making dinner the first night I realized I was mistaken and I bought one the following morning.  We plan on storing it in the bathroom when the slides are in.

4) Don't forget a fly swatter!  Trust me on this one...You need one. Throw it in the cart.

5) While you're at it go ahead and throw that 9' x 12' RV Mat from Walmart in the cart (or a bigger one). They're a little pricey but completely worth it to keep most of the dirt from getting tracked inside.

6) Coordinate meals with your travel partners. My family has always done this when we all travel together, and it's always been a lifesaver. We did this on our camping trip: 3 families + 3 nights = everyone makes dinner once. It was the best thing we could have done.  Instead of everyone having to stock their itty bitty fridges with multiple dinners, we all had just one, leaving space for lunch and breakfast food. Plus it was really nice only having to worry about getting dinner ready one night!

Our campsites came with combination grill/fire pits

7) Speaking of refrigerators.....they're tiny so pack them wisely.  And if you're going to take a gallon of milk make sure the lid gets screwed back on tightly.  Ours did not and I was pouring milk out of the produce bins when we got home...not cool.  And while we're on the subject of food....

8) Divide the number of bags of chips you take in half. Don't bring them just to have something to snack on, especially if you don't typically snack on chips, because everyone is going to being a few bags of "just in case" chips and you'll end up with 2 bags of chips for each person, and all but 3 bags will be open by the time you get home leaving you with lots of open bags of chips.

9) Have something to store your dirty/stinky/sweaty clothes in.  We did not and the second day could not figure out why the camper had a mildew-ey smell that would not go away even though we sprayed air freshener multiple times.  Finally Eric realized it was coming from his pile of dirty clothes sitting on our dresser...I know, gross.  He double-bagged them and the smell went away.  I took them home the next morning and washed them (thank you nearby campsite!), but we're going to have to find a solution for gross dirty clothes on longer trips aside from bagging them up and storing them under the camper until we get home because I would probably need a gas mask to wash them at that point.  Suggestions are welcome.

Watch dog

10) And last but not least enjoy yourself! If you want to go explore, go explore. If you want to sit in a lounge chair and read, sit in a lounge chair and read. If you want to go fishing at midnight, go fishing at midnight.  I think you get my point.  Enjoy being outside and enjoy the slower pace that goes along with a simpler way of life. And I hope you have an awesome groups of weirdos to hang with (another perk of camping close to home)!

A Man Walks onto a Camper Sales Lot.....

When Eric and his best friend were younger they'd do things like go get new dirt bikes or 4-wheelers together because heaven forbid one did something without the other one. Because boys will be boys that has held true in adulthood as they both got new trucks around the same time and as of last month they (along with their wives) are now the proud owners of campers.

Gassed up and ready to go!

Yes campers.  They even went together to make their camper purchases and were told by the salesman that he could not believe they were both able to select and purchase their campers without their wives present.  Lucky for them they picked out the right ones (wives and campers) because it would have been a shame if they'd had to return their new toys if they'd purchased the wrong ones.

I was actually sitting on a hill beside the 9th fairway of the U.S. Open when I received a text from Eric with a video of our new 5th wheel camper, and sat there in complete shock before calling him and asking if it was a joke.  I knew he was thinking very strongly about it but figured it would blow over like it has in the past. But clearly it did not.....

Our set up at the campground

It took me a week or so to warm up to the idea of camping because we did not camp when I was a kid, so I had no idea what to expect.  Once I started filling it up with all of the things we might need....aka shopping for it I really started to get excited. It was love at first sight for Eric and he and his buddies used it as a Saturday night hangout spot in the middle of our yard the first weekend we had it.

We took her our for her maiden voyage this past extended 4th of July weekend along with Eric's best friend and his wife, and another couple.  Somehow we were able to snag 3 lots next to each other at a state park on Lake Martin.....several of the people we stayed near were shocked we were able to get our slots, too.

We packed up the truck with everything I hadn't had a chance to load the night before when Eric closed the slides and headed up to the lake bright and early on Saturday morning.  Once we got there Eric set up the camper - I have no clue how to do any of the backing in and leveling and hooking up to water/power/etc so I played with some fellow campers' dogs....there were so.many.dogs there, it was awesome! We only brought Beau and Peanut this time but I am scheming how to get LG and Hawk included on the next trip.

Part of our canine contingency....our dogs did not win the award for best behaved all weekend....clearly

When he finished up his jobs he headed back home to get his boat - the campsite is only 30 minutes from our house so this was a good "1st trip" distance for us - and I got to work setting up the inside. It didn't take me too long so by the time he got back I was kicked back in a lawn chair reading a book.  (I am working on The Alice Network by Kate Quinn and so far I am really enjoying it).

We spent the rest of our weekend hanging out, reading (me), fishing (Eric), eating (all of us), and not much else.  It was probably one of the most relaxing vacations I've been on in a while, and as packed as the campsite was (there are over 600 camping slots there) we never felt crowded or like anyone was invading our space.  Everyone there was super friendly and helpful too! We did get called out as newbies because Eric's best friend left the warranty sticker on his window, but we all got a good chuckle out of it.

The guys in their gifted "camper shirts"

After such a successful trip we are chomping at the bit to go again!  The boys have been searching for a place for Labor Day already (the place we stayed is already booked), and spent the good part of Tuesday evening looking up campgrounds in AL and GA for our next trip!

Our crew!