Camping season! It's my favorite time of year! Where do I begin with this particular adventure...?
Oh, this looks like a good place to start!
Ryan PROMISED me that we would camp somewhere with a shower and flush toilets (my only two criteria for a camp site). Due to poor/no planning by somebody who's name I will not mention we ended up in the Sierras(?) with no place to camp...so we ended up here...
Dardanelle Campground:
with NO showers, NO flush toilets, NO running water in fact. Oh sorry, there was one spigot next to the bathrooms with a sign next to it that said "No washing, rinsing, drinking, cleaning fish"--what ARE you supposed to do with that water then?
Then there was the band across the street at the "resort" which was actually just a few nasty little cabins with a convenience store, oh, and a stage.
They played every night until 11PM and I thought I might shoot myself if I had to hear one more Tom Petty, CCR, or Lynyrd Skynyrd cover song--folks must have been too drunk to notice they played the exact same sets both nights in a row because they were goin' wild...until 11PM...both nights...
It's one redeeming quality was the river:
...which we spent all 2 1/2 days in because it was either that or swelter in 90 degree heat at a campsite blanketed in dirt.
The boogie board was a huge hit.
And fishing of course.
Oh yes, and if you look in the corner of this picture you will notice Benson EATING the fish bait. Yes, one of the hot pink "salmon eggs" that Ryan thought it would be a good idea to let him play with...apparently it didn't taste very good thank goodness. Are those things even real salmon eggs? Who knows...
When all was said and done, OF COURSE Ryan and the kids had a great time...but let's just say after 3 days of no showering and the great anxiety that came from having to squat over that vault toilet wondering if one of those disgusting flies buzzing around down in the recesses might fly up and land anywhere on or near me, it's going to be a LONG time before I go camping again:) Ryan is well aware of that fact.
Signing off now to go enjoy a long hot shower!
His preschool teachers made him this crown for his big day...
So naturally, he wore it at all day. Here he is eating his birthday cookies with his buddy...
(Here's the cookies--mmmm--and yes, believe it or not, everything you see here comes from nature!)
...watching his fave Thomas movie, still crowned--approx. 1 PM.
3 PM.
Present Time! 5:30PM. (the crown.)
He got what he wanted.
6PM. Pizza for dinner--by order of the King.
