The Gallagher’s were NOT exactly the “camping type of family”. We did go on awesome family vacations every year…did some really cool stuff…like hello…we went to Bonanza (yes to the set of the old country western tv show), the OK Corral in New Mexico (yes where Wyatt Earp and the rest had their cowboy shoot-out), Grand Canyon, etc etc. The Gallagher's would rent a mini van…drive around and stay in hotels…we NEVER camped! The first time I actually slept in a tent was back in Nov. 2007 at the 3 day Breast Cancer walk in San Diego with Mom…
In this case Mother and I didn’t even have to put the darn thing up…there were Boy Scouts running around doing it for all us tired women! So THAT was my first “camping” experience (which isn’t “real”).
Our friends have been camping for a while…but it seems we aren’t ever able to join them b/c of other commitments. But this summer I was determined to try and get us camping…Owen asks me all the time to go camping (Thank You Bubble Guppies!) AND magically it happened! I was pretty excited!
We were going to be camping at San Clemente State Beach!! The veteran campers got us all hooked up…gave me a list of things to pack, we did a meal plan and each family was responsible for 2 meals and our wonderful friends let us borrow their tent (which was the most AWESOME tent ever…took 30 minutes to assemble…amazing!) This tent was huge…had room for 2 queen sized air mattresses and all our luggage. Some of our friends had recently purchased a 28 foot trailer…so that was pretty cool to have as well. It was so nice…and I hope they make many memories with it! 
It was so cute…Owen kept calling our tent our “hotel”…it was so funny. It kind of WAS our hotel…since it was so huge.
We were at the camp site for no joke maybe 20 minutes and Owen was already COVERED in dirt. I’m not sure what it is with camping and kids being dirty but oh man Owen was covered in dirt the WHOLE time we were there. He usually isn't a child that likes to be dirty…so it was odd and like he had NEVER seen real dirt in his life or something. 
We spent our days at the beach…
Kids played and Daddies had a boogie boarding competition going on…it was funny! One Daddy would go out into the water with a 10 minute time limit. The other 2 daddies were on the beach…judging the tricks as well as watching some of the kids! 
That’s Yosh giving a half point to Joel out in the water!
And Evenings at camp were spent cooking, eating, drinking, playing and spending time by the fire!!
There was a little stage by our campsite…and Yosh and John took turns telling the kids stories…I will say my husband has a talent of being an awesome story teller…it was cute to watch the kids be enthralled in what Yosh was saying…
AND it just so happened that we were camping for Yoshi’s 35th birthday on July 23rd!! He was excited to get to spend his day with some of his best friends…(I think he was excited anyway!?!) We sang Daddy Happy Birthday and we all enjoyed some Toy Story cupcakes…heehee the kids loved them anyway!
Overall my first camping experience was a lot of fun…I’m not sure it was the best idea for a pregnant girl to be sleeping in a tent…in a place that has freakin’ SKUNKS roaming around. While we were sitting at the fire at night we would see skunks everywhere searching for food…and these little brave dudes would come CLOSE to us. I was terrified we’d get sprayed! And I’m getting up at least twice in the night to pee…so that made for an interesting situation to say the least. I won’t go into details…but I wasn’t able to be walking around a campsite with skunks in the middle of the night!
And the ants…seriously…they are EVERYWHERE! We figured out AFTER night one that we needed a powdery substance (flour, baby powder, AJAX, cocaine haha, etc.) to put around everything that touched the floor…guess ants don’t like to walk through the powder so it keeps them out. Thankfully Yosh went and bought flour while he was out getting coffee and we poured it around anything that was touching the floor!!
Now with saying that we had such a wonderful time, does this mean we will be running out and purchasing a tent this week…NOT exactly. haha It was fun BUT we’ll wait some time before we financially invest in some “real” camping gear ourselves! haha
Thanks for an awesome camping experience friends!!
Unfortunately our FUN camping trip ended on a “low note”…while driving home our battery died and our alternator was bad…so we stalled ON THE FREEWAY which was pretty darn scary!! What luck do we have….GEEZ!
Two tow trucks had to come save us…we went to a PepBoys and my awesome hubs installed a new battery and we drove home. Owen was a bit scared to be in a tow truck without a car seat…and I was so annoyed with myself. When we left camp we literally packed up and left…no showers, no changing, nothing. Owen was in PJs…I had to pee…it was just bad all around! But we made it come safe and sound and still have to say it was an awesome time!!
No comments:
Post a Comment