Cold Front is Coming

It’s Wednesday! It’s the last day of school and it’s a half day! I’m just as excited for summer as Mr. T is! I also have a headache today – but I think it is sinus related. We have a cold front coming through, and I think the change in barometric pressure is messing with my head.

See – look – a cold front! It is on it’s way now and my head can feel it!

The cold front is coming in a bit earlier than expected, but the good part of this is that they took the chances of rain out of the forecast for the weekend. That really excites me because, if I haven’t mentioned it enough yet, we are going camping this weekend!

This weekend a couple of friends and I were talking about my first couple of trips with them, and how reserved I still was. While I had gone camping as a kid, the trips were few and far between, so I didn’t have much experience. And thankfully my friends are all awesome and they’ve taught me how to put up my tent and they’ve taken it down for me when I’ve run into a spider and was afraid to touch the tent afterwards. I’m so much better now – and I do say that with a tremendous amount of pride! I worked hard to learn how to do this, and in doing so, I’ve given my son the love of camping, and opened his world up even further!

A line of tents, ready to go!

We always get a site with water and electricity. Cause, we aren’t crazy you know! And there are extension cords running from the post to all of the tents! Almost all of us use air mattresses that have to be aired up, plus, hello, 90 degrees, we all have fans! (Just FYI, for the middle of summer camping when the temps are over 100, we do have A/C units for our tents, too. Likewise, we have heaters for the cool nights during fall camping.)

This is the first year that Mr. T won’t share my tent. This saddens me and makes me so happy at the same time. I’m sad that he is growing up, but I’m so glad that I’ve raised him to be independent, and yes, kinda happy that I’ll have my tent to myself!

There is also power that runs to the communal picnic table, cause the Christmas lights that go up need power! Pam brings the mini fridge and table that goes over it. Amy brings the coffee pot (for the longest time we used the standard percolater over the hot coals, but, duh! why wait when we have power!) Karen brings the kitchen sink. Not kidding. She had the coolest table that sets up, and has shelves underneath, racks above and under the flat surface, a sink! We’ve never actually used the sink. Pam has a basin that we take over to the water faucet and wash our dishes over there, but still, we have a kitchen sink!

Mini fridge, table, and the ever present radio!

By having all the extra tables, we are able to set up multiple grills and the occasional crock pot, off of the table, so that as soon as we are done cooking, we don’t have to clear the table off in order to eat. Amy is always in charge of the fire, and she does a great job. In addition to the camping grills, we still cook over the fire pit at almost every meal. And roast marshmallows almost every night.

The nice thing about the group trip is that we all don’t have to bring everything. If one person doesn’t have it, another one does. I almost never take pots and pans and such, because we already have so many – but I do keep us supplied in paper plates and plastic utensils!

The primary camping gear stays stored in it’s own tubs, and this year Mr. T and I got new tubs. I like them so much better! I’ve been playing a mental game of Tetris, though, trying to figure out how all of this is going to fit in my compact car. I will continue to play that game, cause as soon as I think I have room for everything, I realize that I’ve missed one of the food tubs. Or the pee bucket. Or my air mattress. In the meantime, I’ve called my dad and asked to borrow his truck for the weekend!

Here is a picture from last years Diva trip (girls only). Obviously we get into so much trouble together! That little gold car in the middle there – that’s mine. My camping gear has outgrown the car!

I’m looking forward to the time with friends, fishing, kayaking, hiking and so much more! Food just tastes better when cooked outside, and the air is always a little sweeter!