Our Camping Trip...

Well, I've got a pretty good story, but it doesn't really have an ending yet....

Chris and I decided to go camping . We chose Lake Fausse Point because its close to the house, and we weren't sure how Preston would take to camping. We planned to camp from Sunday through Tuesday. We should have been prepared for something interesting, because something always happens. So, Sunday after church we load up the pop-up camper, pack our bags, Preston, and the dogs. We are ecstatic about getting away after a rather hectic couple of weeks. We even invited some friends we don't see too often, Adam and Keitra and their wonderful little ones, Rachel and Ben, to meet us for hamburgers Sunday night. Chris is so excited about camping he's about to jump out of his skin. (I think I mentioned his camping fever in the last post). So.....we arrive at Lake Fausse Point safe and sound to find that the campsites are emptying from the weekenders, how wonderful that it won't be crowded. Its about 3:00. We find a nice spot covered with beautiful trees....shady.....close to the bathhouse...you know, all the important things are right there for us. I let the dogs out for a little walk, Preston is still enjoying his nap in the truck, and Chris decides to start cranking up the camper and get things settled in so that we can relax before our friends arrive. Well, the camper had its own plans because it decides only one side of it wants to raise up. Chris thinks its no big deal, and very calmly begins checking everything . A very nice camp host, John, drives by, notices the lopsided roof of the pop-up, and offers Chris some help. Three hours later, after Chris and John, have worked on it and given it all they've got, Chris surrenders and the camper wins the battle. He doesn't have the right tools to fix it because of course, we unloaded them before leaving the house to make more room for our camping stuff. We borrowed tools from the Ranger, but Chris couldn't quite get them to work like he needed. Chris thinks he knows what is wrong, but he decides he won't be able to fix it that night. Oh, you should also know its only about 97 degrees and much hotter inside the camper where Chris has been crawling around. His clothes are soaked through with sweat. When he'd been working on it for about 2 hours, we realized we could hook up to the electricity and turn on the AC even though the camper wasn't rasied up all the way. Huge difference. Poor Chris. We decide we'll enjoy some time with our friends, pack up, and head back to Lafayette for the night-leaving the camper until Monday when Chris can return with the right tools and get it secured for the trip home.

So, its been three hours, making it 6:00 which is when our friends should arrive for burgers. Chris hurries to take a shower, and I prepare for burgers. Preston has been a very good boy so far and has been chilling in his bouncer after waking up from his nap. Well, our friends arrive to tell us that they had to travel at about 20 mph because of the gravel road!! I did notice on our map the road we traveled on was labeled "gravel road." Chris and I discussed it and came to the conclusion that it must have been paved sometime recently. Well, Adam and Keitra, came from the other side and apparently its only paved up to a certain point!! How funny! Well, its all funny now....

So, anyways, we enjoy some burgers, play with the kiddos, have lots of laughs, and catch up on what's been going on with our churches. The mosquitos and the creeping darkness force us to clean up, pack up, and load up to head home. Even though we couldn't camp and relax like we intended that we enjoyed our time with our friends.

So, we begin our trip home with Preston being a little fussy from such a long day. Somehow on our drive home we take a wrong home and instead of traveling through St. Martinville, we go further south through New Iberia making our trip even longer. But we don't even realize we've gotten off our planned path until I see the New Iberia City Limits sign on the side of the road. We didn't realize we were driving the wrong way because we were so focused on getting Preston to stop screaming. His fuss had turned into screaming shortly after we exited the park. Crying would have been ok, but screaming was hard to tolerate. How lovely. We finally arrive home very late and exhausted. We get Preston to bed, take a quick shower, and fall into our own bed.

Monday morning Chris gets up and packs up his tools to go get the camper. He's gone for a few hours and arrives home safe and sound with the camper in tow. He knows what wrong with it but decides he'll take it in to be fixed sometime later. (All you who are wondering what is wrong I really can't tell you the details-you better ask Chris about that). While Chris was gone I get Jay and Jon to bring dad's truck over so that I can go with them to Lowe's and buy Chris' Father's Day gift. A new grill!! After such a not fun camping trip I knew we needed to figure out something fun for the rest of our "vacation time." Chris was very excited with his grill. We invited Jay, Danielle, Jon, and Rachel over for burgers and some Canasta for the evening. It all turned out to be so much fun. After burgers, the guys went shopping for dessert while the girls picked up from dinner and got ready for the big game. The guys returned with 2 pies and ice cream. We listened to crazy stories from our friend Toby while the pies were baking. Good times. I guess I must share that the guys beat us at Canasta, but we're having a re-match tonight. We never are sure if the guys have some tricks up their sleeves.......

So the camper still isn't repaired yet, but hopefully soon. We'll have to reschedule our camping trip for sometime in July I guess. We're gonna have to start paying our friends to camp with us because of all the crazy stuff that happens!! ah haa haa.

All for now...

Chris and Shell