Camping 101....

..our first night at the campsite..all smiles!
Our lovely tents..ours is the blue one in the background.
Riley and Presley...cutie pies!
Joseph and Reagan...best buds.
a little lounging in the sun with my sweetie...
the bed that I never slept in...:(
the camping Hills!
look at them...just little lovebirds...Tracey and Darren
NO, this will not be our Christmas card picture..just in case you were worried...maybe Halloween next year...bad hair, all the way around...yikes!
the Hill's and the Greene's having some fun at the park near our campsite
getting a little goofy, and mostly tired of all of the picture taking
Joseph takes a break on the bench, and I snag a little cuddle time in.


Two weekends ago we ventured out into the deep woods for our first camping trip. We traveled all the way to Alexander City, Alabama. Brave, aren't we? The reason for the far travel is because we met up with some of our best friends, Darren and Tracey Greene and their girls, Riley and Reagan. The Greene's live about 30 minutes from the campsite that we visited.

Our car was loaded down with everything but the kitchen sink....on second thought, pretty sure we brought that too. Being our first "camping" trip, I had to make sure that we didn't ''want" for anything. You would have thought that we were headed west for a year with the sight of our loaded down vehicle.

Darren and Tracey were already there when we arrived. As soon as we landed, Lem started unpacking the car, and hurriedly setting up the tent. Apparently daylight runs very short the further West you head from Georgia. At 4:30 it was getting dark....WOW!

Once everything was settled and unpacked, we made some delicious hot dogs for dinner. Well, let me rephrase...Darren made us some delicious hot dogs for dinner. The kids were happy and fed, and we had fun catching up with the Greene's.

Tracey recently had knee surgery, so she decided that two nights in a tent, on the ground, would be too much for her knee. She had decided early on to go home Friday night and come back early Saturday morning. Like I needed an excuse to get to sleep in a bed?? I whole heartedly and without an ounce of hesitation, offered to escort her home and stay with her. She couldn't go home to an empty home...alone. No way! I was the loyal friend who stayed with her and sacrificed a night in the woods to be with her. (Lucky me!!)

We made it back to the campsite early the next morning and spent the rest of the day lounging, talking, playing, and just having a good time. The weather was absolutely picture perfect. We took advantage of our ample time and took about a million pictures. Posed, action, you name it. What better than to capture our camping memories with some pictures! The husbands were not as delighted. Tracey and I wrangled them into some really cheesy poses, all the while they were reluctantly obliging.

As night fell...somewhere around 4:30-ish...we cooked dinner and made s'mores for dessert. Well most everyone did...I just ate big, fat, burnt marshmallows and relished every bite. After dinner, I was feeling really crampy. My little friend had showed up on our way down the day before, and she was back with a vengeance. I kept imagining myself getting up to go to the bathroom during the night, not being able to see very well, and trying to keep everything in tact...if you know what I mean. SURE, you do..you are GIRLS. 99.9% of you reading this can follow.

Sheepishly, I turned to Tracey and asked her if she minded if we went back to her house for the night. There was no need for arm twisting, she didn't bat one pretty eyelash. She was ready!

We got to her house and decided to get on FB together. Oh my gosh, we laughed so hard. We found some funny stuff. We laughed our butts off. Silly, silly, silly girls. It was like a slumber party, but just the two of us. I love Tracey Greene. No matter how much time has passed, it's like we are right back in sync.

To sum it all up, we had ample fun, and an abundant of laughs that weekend. Although I didn't get a chance to break in the tent...I was okay with that.

Our next camping trip is scheduled for this weekend. I am sure I won't be able to find an excuse good enough for not sleeping in the tent. So, say a prayer for me. Please.

still smelling the campfire,

Jill