where have I been?

I've been AWOL, that's for sure! But I'm baack....,,,,

I've been sick and I've been busy working at my "part-time" jobs, so busy I didn't have time to post.

So to catch up, we went to Bull Shoals White River State Park for Labor Day weekend. Me, Bart and the boys, my dad and my sister Tracy and her husband Tim. We got there on Friday, everyone else was already there, but we did get there before dark at least! And we parked and set up and got dinner going...



and this:


you got it, 1 travel trailer and 2 tents! But we had a great time, Saturday my mom came up which is amazing because she doesn't really like to camp! And the boys stayed with Grandad in the tent (except for Tyler) and got up and fished every morning, caught several several trout, and cooked Spam over a campfire before I got my lazy behind out of bed to cook breakfast! They had this hilarious thing that they put the meat on sticks and cooked it, they did it last year while we were all camping and well, there's nothing like being awakened by the smell of Spam cooked over a campfire! I'm kinda the unofficial cook, which is fine, I enjoy cooking for everyone. And if I don't plan our meals, well, who wants to go to the store every camping trip? So I planned the meals, did cooking with the help of Mom and Tracy and then I had the camper to clean up in, with hot water to wash dishes instead of heating water on the camp stove and doing it the way you have to do it when you're tent camping.

Anyway with the boys in the tent, my Mom actually slept in the camper with us (we have 4 bunks and only Tyler sleeping in there) both Saturday and Sunday nights and we were so glad to have her with us! My great-aunt has a house in Mountain Home which is about 30 minutes from the park, and we were afraid Mom would want to stay there, but she stayed with us and we were grateful because we don't get to spend enough time together. We even all trooped down to the camp showers because without sewer hookups, staying 3 days in a campground fills up the grey tank (the one that holds the shower and sink water) very fast, so I even showered in the camp showers! And I usually hate to do that!

The funniest thing was Tyler (who is 5) "caught" two trout on Sunday. And by "caught" I mean Ryan put two previously caught trout on his fishing line which didn't actually have a hook on it. And so Tyler thought he had caught fish. The first thing I know, he's telling his Dad, "I caught two fish and their names are Brownie and Ice Cream."

I was laughing so hard I thought I was going to have a heart attack! He named his fish! Then later that night he said, "Dad, did we eat Brownie and Ice Cream?" He's just so cute, it's funny! After his dad looked him in the eye and told him, yes, we had eaten Brownie and Ice Cream for dinner, Tyler was okay with it. I thought we were catching trout to eat, but apparently Tyler was naming them, too!

Ryan caught a lot of fish:




And here's Tyler fishing, and I tell you, that boy can cast!! He spent all weekend casting and casting and casting...


And here's Kevin fishing:



I never got any good pictures of Jake fishing, could be because he and Tim were getting up at dawn to fish.....

But here are some photos of the river, it was higher than it's ever been....but it's really beautiful there.

A Camping we will go....

We're off tomorrow for a long camping weekend at Bull Shoals-White River State Park and boy, am I excited! Bull Shoals is a lake in Arkansas that's terrific, it's great for swimming and boating, it's really beautiful with tons of rocks and cliffs and beautiful trees with some beaches thrown in there. And the White River is THE trout fishing place. The water is cold, like the trout like, and where they dammed the river, it became Bull Shoals Lake. And it's not very wide and very very shallow so you can just wade in ..... IF you can stand the cold!

The campground is an Arkansas State Park and a bunch of the campsites are along the river, kinda high, where the cold air coming off the river makes the temperature just wonderful even in August when it's unbelieveably hot here! It's terrific to be able to just go down some stairs and wade right into the river to fish, my boys love it so much, and I'm hoping we will be able to catch enough fish to cook! YUM!


So everyone have a good weekend and enjoy the weather while it's still summer!

Camping fun in Branson or Off to our Typical rocky start

We are visiting Branson, MO, for the holiday weekend. We found a great campground that's on the lake, very friendly people, and "off the beaten path."

The first day we got here was Wednesday and it was as hot as the dickens. If you aren't a camper, just let tell you some of the things that have to be completed once we pull up to our site in the camper to get ready to "camp." Imagine trying to unhitch the TT (travel trailer), get the wheel chocks under the wheels (so we don't roll off), let the jacks down (with just the special wrench that you have to turn over and over) on each corner of the TT so that it won't jump and jive everytime someone inside walks around, and get all the hoses, cords, and plugs etc., hooked up to the proper connection so the sewer, electricity, water and Cable TV all work. And now imagine doing that in the bright sunshine, 90+ degrees with 4 boys helping you, dust flying everywhere and kids saying, "dad, can I hook up the XXX now?" Well, it's enough to try any man's soul!

So after about 20 minutes of this, I had scooted off to the bath house to you-know, and when I came back was when I noticed: The back of the TT was completely crooked!! And by that I mean, looking at the back of the TT, the left side was about, oh, six inches lower than the right side. I knew when I went into the TT and opened the slide and turned on the A/C and all that stuff that I do inside (I get the inside set up and DH gets the outside stuff done), that it was unlevel, but boy, I didn't have any IDEA how unlevel!

So I said to DH, "um, not to be the bearer of bad news but did you know that the trailer is unlevel?" And he said, "yes, I do know, but it's not bad and besides, if I try to make it level, I'll have to hitch it all up again, move the trailer, and put blocks under the wheels on the left side."

Well, I must have looked at him funny or something because he said, "What?" And I said, "Um, the boys will roll out of their bunks if it's not leveled, because all the stuff fell out of the refrigerator when I opened it." He didn't laugh, he didn't cry, he just looked at me. Then finally he said, "is it really that bad?" And I said, "no, it's worse!"

So the two younger boys and I went into the trailer, pulled the slide in and sat on the couch to wait out the moving business without being in the way. The TT got moved 6 inches forward, blocks were placed under the wheels and we were in business!!

After I had gotten sick from the heat, one of the other boys was sick from the heat, then we finally decided the only way to cool off was to drive off in our tow vehicle and stay in the A/C there until the sun went down and the camper would cool off. It turned out to be a wise choice because we went to eat at a buffet, our favorite since none of the boys can ever agree on a place to eat, and they have really good food! Something for everyone and lots of coolness to savor and enjoy before getting ready for bed.

One thing I didn't realize or wasn't told about this campground was that it is a public city-owned park which is great because it's cheap, but the bathhouses aren't air/conditioned, much like most of the state parks. That's not too bad most of the time, but boy, in July when our campsite is in the middle of a place with no trees and it's more than 90 degrees with at least 100% humidity, it's really too much!

For those unfamiliar with camping, we do have a bathroom in our TT but given the fact that my DH is over 6 feet tall and the shower is very small and not very tall and when you're standing in front of the sink with the shower on the right and the toilet on the left, you could stand with both arms outstretched and touch both the shower wall and the wall above the toilet and it's impossible to raise your leg without hitting your knee on the sink, campground facilities become very important! The boys except the youngest all shower, etc. in the campground facilities because really, if we all tried to shower in the TT, it would take 2 hours and given that the hot water heater only holds 6 gallons of water, it would probably be time for bed before we were all done showering!

More tomorrow on the joys of our trip to Branson.....