Spring break this year was so welcome, and that fact that we stayed home made it feel even longer. Since the weather was great (Mardi Gras break did not work out for us weather wise), we had a quick local camping trip.
If you've ever thought that camping meant less skincare routine, I'm here to tell you it absolutely does not. It only means remember to put on sunscreen as soon as you wake up.
Now that the boys are bigger, it is much easier to stay in the bathhouse longer to get such things done.
Dill wasn't having it this particular night. He never sleeps on a bed and was insistent. This was when I was trying to coax him into his kennel and he was ignoring me and wanting to get on my side of the air mattress.
He ended up having a good reason. Around 10:30pm I heard what could only be described as a bear walked past the tent. I've never, in a decade of camping with the kids, heard an animal like this. I know my racoons and deer. The palmettos add another layer of animal activity since they're so loud. But whatever came through them brushed the side of the tent, sending Honey into a tizzy of buffing. It stood above my head while I was laying on the air mattress and had a very slow graceful walking sound. But it sounded huge compared to the usual racoon that is nosing arond looking for snacks.
Harrison didn't want to play football with Elliot, and the dogs were fussing that they couldn't be off leash, so I convinced Harrison to read the Boxcar Children to them.
This is everyone playing in the sand around the tent pad before we realized we didn't pack a single towel for this trip. Baths ended up being the kids running in the splash pad.
Another holiday task was installing a water drip irrigation to the front flower beds. I just cannot for the life of me bring myself to sit out there watering, plus the heat here just sucks the water right out of everything. After our super dry March... and what is continuing to be a fairly dry April, this had to happen. The only issue I ran into was on the very last plant I was moving rocks and found myself a baby snake.
This is where I will say that living in Alabama for a short stint was just enough flooding therapy in and of itself that I still don't want to touch them... I still scream... but my freakout is way less. I haven't been told in years that I can't shoot a gun in the house, so clearly I'm toughing up. (Kidding, but Jeremy did tell me to not shoot at a snake if I ever saw one indoors.)
Last but not least, we got our hands on some shrimp and had a little outside boil for the three of us that eat it. We really need to nail down getting the seasoning perfect, so if you have a proven method let me know.
