Camping - With 2 Kinds of Hot Dogs

In every happy marriage, you must learn to give a little and compromise. I am spoiled and well taken care of, I have never denied that. So in order to show my husband how much I appreciate and love him for all that he does, I must occasionally give in and do what HE wants to do. That is why I went camping.... in a tent.... in August, with a (almost) 2 year old. God love TJ though, because I am not sure what is worse.... me camping in a tent, in August, with a (almost) 2 year old, OR TJ having to camp with ME and a (almost) 2 year old... in a tent.... in August. We took our dog by the way.. so that made it extra fun.

So TJ picked a campground right on the beach and let me just say... he did GOOD. We went to St Augustine to Anastasia State Park. So gorgeous out there! We got out there at about 6pm on Friday and started to set up. It took approx. 2 hrs and 7 minutes (just an estimate of time) to construct our tent. WHY? Because TJ bought us a new 10 person tent a while back and this was only our second time putting it up... just the two of us.... with a TEN person tent..!! A family of THREE, that all sleep on the same air mattress... yeah, its large. But I guess that makes it fun. By the way, if you are not completely in LOVE and have a stable relationship with your hubby or significant other, do not try putting a tent up together... it could cause serious issues in the relationship. haha

TJ....so proud of completing the "tent task" 

Elleah started having the time of her life as soon as we stepped foot out of the truck. I decided to just let her get dirty and go at it hard. And she did not disappoint. No bow, no shoes, and no snazzy outfit.... the girl looked a-mess!!!! Still cute, but.... well... you can see for yourself...

Such a mess... but still amazingly cute!!! 

All that playing ended up like this though.....

Tuckered

I don't know if you can see it, but she IS wearing her glow in the dark "I heart Vampires" tshrit. And don't judge me.... the way I see it... we were out in the woods.... in a TENT... she needed to be on somebody's team.

We woke up the next morning and after TJ cooked breakfast, we hit the bikes and headed to the beach. Gracie couldn't go to the beach so we left her in the tent with 2 fans and a bowl of food and water!! Yay.... such a good idea. I will revisit this in a second. First of all though... the beach!! What a perfect day to go. We took the bikes down along the water and rode for a good while. Then we decided that the water was looking too great to not be in...

Mr Hasselhoff himself (TJ said that when he saw this pic)

Well... we had a great hour and a half by the water and then returned to the campsite.... where Gracie had decided NOT to stay. Why I did not think she would be able to get out is beyond me. This is something I should have thought about when we decided to leave her there. I should have said to myself  "Self, this might not work." So in a panic, I hopped in the truck and roll off to search for her. It only took me a minute to remember I had a smartphone and I looked the # up to the rangers station! I called them and they called the rangers to check if they had seen her. One guy had seen her.... and she was riding around with him in his golf cart!! hahahaha. He took her to our campsite # and told TJ that Gracie told him that she did not like camping without a/c. This particular park ranger spoke cocker spaniel. The vision I have of Gracie finding her own thing to do and cruising around on the cart cracks me up. The ranger said he went around asking if anybody lost a dog, but then decided she could ride around with him until somebody reported her OR he was able to get a chance to take her to some a/c. THANK GOD he was such a sweet guy!! We felt so awful though... and pretty stupid! We got cleaned up and decided to get in the truck and go riding around St Augustine. We were not even out of the park gates and Gracie and Elleah were BOTH knocked out.

Our second trip to the beach that day was a little different.... we took the truck, not the bikes, and we left the truck running with Gracie in it. Oh yeah folks, we are awesome. But in our defense, we could not PAY Grace to get out of the truck. I swear if she could talk it would have sounded a little like "Rorge, I ran away once, and I will soooo do it again.... just try and call my bluff... I am keeping my a** right here!!" By the way, I do not know WHERE she gets that naughty language from! So we left the auto start on and let it run its course.... then every 15 minutes, we had to walk back up, recrank the truck, and go back down to the water. Needless to say, we had a BALL, but it only lasted about 45 min hahaha.


This was no ordinary camping trip, people! We took glow sticks, water guns, and silly string. The glow sticks and water guns were a HIT with Elleah. The silly string?... not so much!! She could not work the can and did not want TJ's help and DID NOT want to be sprayed!! 

This is what TICKED looks like... haha

So, you know that expression... "Go fly a kite." Well, we did...

Elleah flying her first kite!

You know how I am always trying to be festive?! Well, camping is no different....

Our setup for dinner!!! hehe. Working with what I had!! 

How come even when it is 5 thousand degrees outside one still feel the need to start a campfire when camping?! To roast a weenie of course! 

Teaching E to roast a weenie! 

I hate sleeping outdoors, in the heat, with the bugs and the raccoon's and the other scary things. I hate being sticky and sweaty and icky. I hate my doggy running away. I hate camping. BUT... I love camping with my little family!!! I LOVE sleeping ANYWHERE when I have them to snuggle up with (even if it IS 5 thousand degrees). I LOVE teaching Elleah to fly a kite and roast a weenie. And I even LOVE that she hated silly string. I LOVE that SHE has so much fun camping, so it is all worth it and I will go whenever my duty calls again. TJ and I really do camp well together though. He loves doing and prepping and grilling and the whole kitten kaboodle. And I love letting him do all that while I do not-much-of-anything. Teamwork folks!!! TEAMWORK!!! 

A few things I learned this weekend:

1. I need to try harder to make E hate camping! ;-P

2. Do not wear white while camping!

3. OFF is my BFF!

4. Dogs can open tents!

5. Some park rangers conveniently speak Cocker Spaniel! (who knew) 

6. If the campsite is secluded enough, one could go all weekend without having to wear a bra! *a camping PLUSside* 

7. A tuba placed on your picnic table will keep the campsites on either side of yours vacant!!

More pics on facebook!!!!!!! Till next time....