Camping Part 2

Once I got us across town into the mountains Joel took a turn driving.

Isn't it a beautiful drive?

We purposely drove through Rome, GA so we could eat at Fuddruckers.  Yumm.

Then it was Judi's turn to drive.  

Everyone in the back asked me not to let her drive again.  

I am not sure why.  We did get stuck behind an old truck 

for quite a while that was really slow around the mountains.

We stayed at Yonah Mountain camp ground. First thing we set up the tent.

And since I was into documenting everything.. here's the inside:

Joel and James slept in the middle.

With Judi on one end and us on the other.

In TX we'd take several tents.. but around here they only allow you to have one.  

We're on our 3rd or 4th air mattress.  Seems like they are always getting holes in them,

but it sure beats sleeping on the ground.  Judi wanted to know where her air mattress was.

I'll have to remember to pack her one next time.

  

Hanging out.

We decided it was time to take a dip in the pool to cool off. 

 From the pool we could see the mountain.

It was pretty impressive.  James thought for sure we'd planned to climb it.

All I was interested in was floating down river in a tube.

It threatened to rain on us.. thundered in the middle of the night.. 

but God answered our prayers and we stayed dry.  :-)

Camping Part 1: Packing the Van

Once upon a time, when we lived in Texas, we went camping quite often.

We had a full sized van and families from church who camped with us

and we had a wonderful time.. especially at Mo Ranch.. 

where I'd like my ashes spread one day far in the future after I've had many grand children.

Then we got a Kia and moved to FL, where "The mosquitoes will pick you up and carry you away."

We only camped there 3 times.  The first time was almost our last 

thanks to the mosquitoes who lived in the near by swamp.  

Our last camping trip it rained, and rained, and rained, and finally at 2 AM we 

were going crazy from the little drips of water raining in our "weather proof" tent 

and we packed up all our drenched stuff by flashlight and went home to sleep in our dry beds.  

Now we live in Alabama the beautiful.. and it's easy to find beautiful camping spots..

but my wonderful, dear, husband has become accustomed to the air conditioning

and we've both sworn never to camp in the rain again.. we are getting picky in our old age.

Ever since we moved here I've been dying to go tubing in Helen, GA.  

The chance of rain diminished, so we decided to try camping again.  

One of Mike's dislikes about camping is all the packing and meal planing that's involved.

This baffles me because I am the one that does it all and I never complain.

I think the family time we get is worth it.

One thing that has always helped make it easier is that I made this list years ago.

I always print off a new one and cross off stuff as I get it packed.

It has EVERYTHING on it.  

I lists for staying in a cabin and visiting family, too.

You can tell that the one above was pretty old by some of the things on it like film 

and a rod (for spankings).  It used to have sippy cups, too.

I decided it was time to up date it again:

I was inspired by a photo blog talking about taking pictures of your packed car.. so here they are:

We got this luggage tail gate thingy at a neighbor's garage sale for a 

fraction of what it was worth.. it can cary bikes too.

It's a life saver.. as you will see the inside of the car soon.

I tried to think of things that were weather and dirt resistant to put out on it.

I wrapped our camp chairs in the foam mats the kids sleep on 

and then our box of cereal and chips out there, too.

I tie it down SUPER well with a bungee net and close line.  

We've used it on several trips and moves

 and no one has ever stolen anything off of it.  Thank you, Jesus.

Here's the back of the car.. full to the brim.  I put the kids' sleeping bags in pillow cases this time.

They are pretty old and don't have the strings that keep them rolled up any more.

We took out the seat behind the passenger seat because it's broken and to make more room.

Josh had class and couldn't come with us.  :-( 

Flash lights, more lights, extension cord for the lights, hammer and mallet for the tent stakes.

The red Dirt Devil vacuum is for blowing up our air mattress.

Sun Chips from Costco, a grill, and in the blue tub more food, paper towels, plates, lighters and stuff.

I like to hang my clothes.  Judi's put in her back pack and purse so far.

Here are my lovely knees, my bag of books, 

my backpack has my blow dryer and other stuff for when we hit the showers, and my purse.

Not much room left for feet.

Joel's ready to go.  He actually has the most room in the car when Josh's seat is out.

James is sitting up his ipod charger.  

It's covered in electrical tape because he did something to modify it.

Mike's setting up the Nuvi.  I get the first driving shift.

Judi's in and ready to go.. she and Joel are having gogurt and grape juice for breakfast. 

And we are off..

:-)

The Nerds

Josh and Joel signed up for a free community class at Hudson Alpa, the local biotechnology institute.

Biotechnology is Josh's favorite subject.. maybe he'll get a research job there one day.

There were only two other people their age that attended the class.  

The classed filled up (250 people) only 10 days after it was advertised. 

Josh says, "Mostly old people are going." 

Joel added, "And a few younger kids who were drug there by their Moms." 

 

A few hours before class, Josh was dumbfounded when noticed in the 

class description that "business attire" was the expected dress.

We've been telling him that he should wear  

a pair of slacks and a polo shirt when applying for jobs.

He'd agreed to, but thinks we're old fashioned.

He didn't have much in his closest that fit the description, 

but was able to borrow a shirt from Mike.

When Joel and Josh came out wearing their "business attire,"

Judi totally freaked out.  All she could do was point and 

yell, "Nerd.  Nerd.  Where's your pocket protector?"

Josh didn't know what a pocket protector was.  

Most days they wear a black, Christian, hardcore T-shirt and a ripped pair of blue jeans.  

 

I couldn't believe that they actually went outside and posed for pictures.

Aren't they cute?  Don't pay attention to the wrinkles.  

I haven't taught them how to iron yet.

They kept asking me if I was sure they should go dressed this way.

I told them that a bunch of people would probably go straight from work in their suits.

I was right, of course, and they were glad they had listened to their old mom.  

The big announcement after the first class was that the institute is planning to build a giant 

replica of a DNA model.  It will be big enough to be seen from an airplane, 

so that Huntsville will be famous for two things, the rocket and the DNA model.  

:-)

Love,

J

Farmer's Market

Mike went with me to the local Farmer's Market this morning.  

I really miss the huge out door market that we had in Florida; one of my favorite things about FL.

Our local Farmer's Market is much smaller, but everyone was friendly 

and there was a pretty good selection to choose from.  

Here's what I got for $10.. Do you think it's a good deal?

I was tempted to buy some watermelon, pears and yellow squash.. 

but we had apples, oranges, and strawberries at home.  

We just finished up some cherries.. Oh, my!  I didn't know fresh cherries could be so good.  

I just ate a peach.. wonderful.. can't wait to have some fried tomatoes, okra and onions for lunch..

I am not sure what I should do with the egg plant.  Any ideas?

Hope you're having a wonderful weekend!

J

Ugly Duckling??

When we were in KS, and I got home sick

the thing I missed other than my 4 guys was our lake.

It's my favorite part of our house.  

I love looking out over it and 

spend as much time as I can in the rooms with a view.

There's a group of 5 ducklings that grew up on our lake.

The story goes that someone gave them to a teacher who lives on the lake.  

She mothered them until they were old enough to live on their own.  

They stayed close by the lake and to each other all through fall and winter.  

When the lake froze over, they hid out in the large, cement pipes 

that drain into the lake.  I didn't envy them.

Then this spring we started noticing that one of the ducks was falling 

out of favor with the flock.  At first, he was waddling a couple of feet behind the others.. 

then more and more.. until he was following more than 12 feet behind.

It was really sad.  I nick named him the Lone Ranger.  

Some days we didn't see him at all,

 and I would wonder where our poor, Lone Ranger was.

Then one day I noticed that he looked dirty.

I thought, "What happened to him?"

Then while walking Sally, I got a closer look.

He wasn't dirty.. he had brown and black feathers!

A few days later I saw him hanging out with the geese 

that fly around from lake to lake in the area.  

Normally the geese and ducks don't associate with each other.  

The ducks just tolerate their presence on the lake and kinda ignore them.

There's not much you can do about a group that's bigger than you and out numbers you.

We normally have 50 to 100 Canadian geese visit at a time

from several times a week to several times a day.

I kept expecting them to fly South or back North.. 

The never did, so I am pretty sure they live here year round.

So our Lone Ranger has found a family in the Madison geese

and isn't lonely any more.  Yay!

Family "JOYS"

I've been working on our chore chart.  I make a new one just about every year.  Anytime we move to a new house, we usually REALLY need a new one; new house; new era; new needs.

I switched a few chores around this time hoping to cut down the "I can't do my chores, because someone else hasn't done theirs." syndrome.  Think it will work?  More than anything the charts are for me to define AND remember who's supposed to do what.  When we don't have a chart that balances out the chores, no one can agree who's supposed to do half the chores, and I end up doing them.

I printed it out on light blue card stock and slipped it into a page protector.  It hangs on our fridge next to our school schedule.
I always date the charts and keep them in the computer, so I can compare from year to year who had what job.  Years ago, I'd planned to rotate jobs quarterly between the kids, but it's turned out to be SO much easier to let the kid who's really good at their job keep it, so Joel may never learn how to wash dishes etc.  My apologies to all their future spouses.  I do occasionally have training sessions where I gather everyone in one place and show them how a chore is done.

JOYS in "Family JOYS" stands for Joyful, Obedient, Youthful, Service.  It came from an article I read by Terri Camp about teaching your kids to see chores as an opportunity to serve.  Over the years, I've learned to love doing house work.  I see it as blessing those who live in and visit our home and I love that I can use the time to pray.

My "kids" (young adults) have pretty good attitudes about chores and are a BLESSING..  our main struggle is getting them done in a timely manner.  Our goal is to have the weekly chores done by Thursday at 4PM so that on Friday everything feels fresh and ready for a relaxed weekend.

If we continue to struggle with getting things done on the list, I might try making one like this:

http://www.howdoesshe.com/chore-chart-for-multiple-kids

I like it because it's easy to see who needs to do what at glance.. without taking a lot of space.  I don't like that it requires everyone to constantly rearrange sticks, and I am not sure if moving sticks will cut down on the number of times I'll have to verbally remind them to do their chores.  What do you think?

I've charged fees for unfinished chores before.. and/or added chores to their lists.  "If you can't do your chores on time and without complaining, you must need more practice doing chores."  Now that they are all young adults, I don't really say things like that anymore.  They seem to know that chores are a part of life, and don't complain unless they think it's someone else's job.. and even then, they are willing to do it for me if I ask on occasion.  I did show them and threaten to make the chart with the sticks if they continue to need reminders.  Beyond that I am not sure what to do.  Take away computer privileges?

Next the new school schedule..

J

Welcome Home Gift

I returned home yesterday to a very nice surprise..

I am so blessed!  

:-)