Day One of the Camping Adventure

Thursday, October 23, 2008:

Up at 6am: Ariel and mom do the early morning seminary routine. Even though the kids will be out of school for 2 days, Ariel felt no desire to miss a day of seminary since we weren't leaving that early. Maybe seeing a 'certain boy' one last time was a motivating factor...but maybe not (yeah, right!).

Back from seminary at 7:30 and wake up the rest of the family. A last minute packing scramble, breakfasts and triple checks on everything mom can think of. The excitement keeps the 2 youngest going...and going...and going (focus is NOT their strong suit this morning!).

8:30am: A prayer before we hit the road, get some air in a few

 tires and top off the gas tank. Grab some drinks and a 'breakfast' for mom and dad (if you want to call it that!). And we're off!!

9:45am: Traffic jam...what on EARTH is going on up there!?!?

10am: Police lights ahead. We can't see any cars going up the hill ahead of us...it seems everyone is being forced to exit here.

10:05: We exit the toll way (NOT by choice!), we still don't know why. Must detour...and save some tolls. 

Hmmm....detoured onto a road with one lane closed and a 55mph 

speed limit...this is not going to help us keep to our time schedule at this rate!

The trees in Pennsylvania are incredible! We're told that we're a week late for the 'best' foliage...absolutely beautiful!

12:30pm: Our 1st stop! Gassed up, got lunch and used the potty. The kids did REALLY well helping get our lunches out to the car. I think that this is the best rest stop I can remember having with the kids with us! It's frustrating how many lane restrictions we've come across that slow us down. We are currently 1 1/2 hours behind our schedule. 

Another 1 1/2 hours left of talk radio (Glenn Beck followed by Rush Limbaugh-Don's favorites). Not sure if he has more talk shows lined up or not (this is me rolling my eyes, everyone!). 

2:30pm: Yet MORE construction in PA...I'm beginning to think that their state tree is those orange construction cones! Jr is trying to read and is spelling out words that she doesn't know and DJ is helping her by telling her what they are.

3:15: In our discussions about when we'll get there and how long 'til we're there, Jr says, 'When we get to our Website...' (meaning our 'campsite', of course). Huh, does that tell anyone what kind of a world we live in!? LOL

3:30pm: We're on to our 2nd movie as the poor little ones are going crazy!

5pm: Stopped for dinner and fuel. Stupid fuel pumps!! 2 different ones stopped at $1.67! We finally got fueled up and on the road...again. Some confusing intersections about 50 miles outside of Maryland. Girls are perfectly content with their i-Pods, reading and texting. DJ & Jr barely stop talking (to whomever is listening...or not listening), and Jr continues to refer to our destination as 'our website' (Don and I get quite a giggle out of this!).

6pm: I got some pictures of the kids in the car. Ariel was avoiding the camera as much as possible, but we had a good time tricking her into looking forward. I held the camera ready and told Don to get her attention...so, he says, loudly, 'Look! We're in Maryland!' Of course she looked up...and we weren't, but I got the picture anyway! LOL

8pm: Camper is set up. Kids waited in the van while Don and I put it up. They get a quick tour of the camper all set up, and then it's off to Wal Mart for food and other things we'll need while we're roughing it. Back to the campsite for PJ's, a snack and bedtime. Our TV/DVD player didn't like our 1st four choices for a movie...but we only needed it as a nightlight anyway. 

9pm: Much whispering amongst the oldest 4 in the family...giggling ensued and blame was cast back and forth (across the camper) as to who started it..until Jr announced loudly, 'Quiet! I'm trying to sleep!' Of course, that just caused more giggling...and we finally settled down for the night. 

Ok...apparently the king size bed that Don and I shared reaches far enough away from the main body of the camper to make it rather chilly on the outside. My 'brilliant' plan to put Don on the side toward the kids (and thus avoid having to get up myself in the middle of the night) seems to have backfired on me!!