Not exactly what we expected

It was so nice to be back in the woods camping again. Last year we got away only once, which was very disappointing. I love being out in the open - cooking and eating outside, playing games at the picnic table, sitting around the campfire, walking around the campground, and doing all the other things we do when we are away. I was looking forward to this trip especially because of seeing everything through Joseph eyes.

Well, as the bumper sticker says, life is what happens when we are making other plans. The kids arrived at the campground late - a bit after 8:00 p.m. - and barely had time to set up camp before dark. Joseph was very tired but not able to sleep in a strange spot without Mom sitting there beside him to reassure him. By the time he got to sleep it was too late for us to play any games as Fred and I were needing to head to bed ourselves. So we said goodnight and retired to the camper.

About 2:00 a.m. I was awakened by Rebecca taking to me through the canvas around my camper bed. Here is the gist of the conversation:

"Mom. Mom. We need to go home. Now don't panic. We have mice in our trailer again. It wasn't even afraid when Rick shone the flashlight on it - it just ran under Joseph's bed. We aren't taking a chance on Joseph getting bitten."

"Can't you at least wait until morning?"

"No. We are already loaded and Joseph is already in the car. We're leaving the trailer, our chairs and the cooler. We'll be back tomorrow (Patti's note- really today) after we all get some sleep so we can spend a little time with you and take the rest of the stuff home."

"Are you sure there's no other choice?"

"Yes. We'll see you tomorrow."

A couple minutes later they were gone. By now both of us were awake, and had a bit of a problem going back to sleep. They didn't get back to camp until after 1:30 Saturday afternoon. I made everyone a late lunch and then we walked down to the river. We did have the fun of watching Joseph explore all the new sites. He sure loved playing in the dirt and splashing his hands in the water in the river. He was also fascinated by all the new plants and trees. Wouldn't you know it - I forgot to bring my camera along on this trip, so Rebecca send me a few pictures. They left a little after 4:00 as Joseph was getting tired and cranky and they wanted him to nap in the car.

As further explanation, I need to mention that their tent trailer is 40 years old this year. It originally belonged to Rick's grandparents and then Rick's parents. It is a tent on wheels - not much more than that. Three years ago they had a new canvas made. There has never been a way to shut it up completely, and this is the third or fourth time they've had problems with mice. They dealt with it before but having Joseph makes everything different. So they are now looking for a new trailer - probably one very much like ours. They had plans to go to Mount Rainier in two weeks - they always go there camping for their anniversary - but they didn't think they could get a new trailer in time. So we have inherited their reservations and thus will head up there sooner this year than expected. (This picture of ours is from a trip to Hurricane Ridge five years ago - the first trip with our trailer.)

Our weather was beautiful, and the two of us had a great time otherwise. I was able to continue watching what I ate as I planned our meals accordingly. No big bags of trail mix with nuts and M&M's on this trip! I'm so thankful for 100 calorie packs - seems like every time I go to the store more things are being packaged this way. I even found some chocolate covered pretzels! I lost 2 pounds last week, and hope for a repeat of that when I weigh in Wednesday morning.

Thanks so all of you who left comments on my last post - I plan to reply to each one of them individually. So if you don't receive a reply from me it's because you are set up for "no reply". The 250,000th visitor didn't leave a comment I'm sorry to say. Maya was the closest at 250,001. Maya, I'd like to send you a little something but you are "no reply" and your profile is private. Please email me your full name and address. I'll try to do the drawing in the next few days - certainly by the end of the week. I have no idea what the prize will be, but I promise I'll put together a package of something nice. First I'd like to see who wins, so I can make the prize fit the winner.


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Gratitudes:
1. Safe trips back and forth to Paradise Creek for Rick, Rebecca, and Joseph
2. I finally beat Fred in 2-person Hand and Foot! And at Phase 10 Dice also!
3. Weight Watchers support and information
4. Beautiful campgrounds all over our fair state