True or False: I am a camper.

FALSE.  I was 95% sure I wasn’t a camper before this weekend, but after this weekend, there’s not much doubt.  Carter and I headed off on Friday to go camping with my mom, sisters, and kids.  Now, I’m not talking about pitch a tent, hang your food in a tree camping.  This is go to a large campground facility on the beach, with a camper kind of camping.  Still, it matters not.  We arrived Friday, put away the few items we packed in the effort to maximize space on the camper and then hung out with the girls until time for bed.  Carter went to sleep on his little pallet beside my bed just superbly. I thought – hey this may not be too bad.  UNTIL…the rain came.  Thunder and lightening were crashing all around us, car alarms were going off, and at about 4:30 a.m. when we all were jolted from the light sleep we had managed to get up until that point by a loud CRACK, BOOM, CRASH! What the heck was that!?

My sisters and I wearily rise from our beds to see what induced such a noise and find upon attempting to open the door to the camper that our awning has literally bent in two and come crashing down on the side of the camper bocking us all in the camper.  Now thankfully there are two doors on the camper and the other door near my mom’s room is not blocked by the awning leaving us an escape route should we need to venture out into the storm.  Not so thankfully, the large crash woke up Carter and Teagan, who were not in the mood to return to bed after such excitement.  Thankfully, I brought my mac book and Mickey was up and running in no time flat, leading my sisters and I to catch a few more minutes of zzz’s. 

Needless to say, after waking at 4:30 a.m., Carter was not the bright shining star that I always hope for by about 9:30 a.m.  With the rain still coming down, I make the decision that if I’m going to be cooped inside with an ornery toddler, I’m going to do it in comfort and drive the six miles to Granny’s house for some much needed rest.  Mom tags along.  We sleep from 11 a.m. until 3 p.m. – blissful sleep.  We return to the camp ground now that the sun is shining to try and enjoy time with family.  After about 10 minutes at the pool, Carter professes that he’s hungry, and in my poor mommy planning had failed to bring any snacks.  A tantrum ensues.  I head back to the camper to feed the poor starving child.  After a sandwich and some delicious hamburgers and hot dogs that mom grilled up, we were finally about to just hang around and play and enjoy each other’s company.  But with another impending rain storm that night, I’m not willing to take the chances that come along with spending the night again.  So after dinner, playtime and our walk down to the beach, I announce that Carter and I are packing it up to spend the night at Granny and Papa’s house tonight. 

We got the most wonderful, much needed sleep for which I was so desperately  hoping.  Sunday morning we awoke to a beautiful day and headed down to the campground to go to the beach with the girls.  After a few hours of enjoying the sun, we packed up the car and headed home. 

So, I’m not really much of a camper.  I like my creature comforts; I’m kind of a girly girl (much more so than my sisters, I think).  But, this is something that mom has always wanted to do with the girls and now the grand kids too.  Who am I to stand in the way of what my mom wants?  I’d do anything to make her happy.  Even go camping again.