Roughin' It

This weekend should be a fun one . . . we are heading over to the other side of the island, to Bellows Air Force Base, with three other Coast Guard families to do a little beach-side tent camping. Of course the occasion gave us an excuse to get a new, much BIGGER tent, so after scouring the Internet for many hours looking for the "perfect" tent, we finally found it. It is a Columbia tent that can easily house up to eight people. It has two rooms, and it has huge windows on all sides that make it feel completely open if you want it to. Last weekend we did a trial run with setting it up, and here is what it looks like. It only took 12 minutes from beginning to end to set it up, thanks to an genius invention called "color coding."

A year ago we did a similar camping trip with the same families, but just for one night, so this year we decided to tough it out for two nights at a new location. Now that the kids are older and much easier to deal with, I think this trip will be even more fun and relaxing. So, we are looking at eight adults, nine kids, and four carloads of gear. I'll think we'll survive somehow. :)

Much of this past week was spent getting ready for the camping trip (shopping, organizing, washing, packing, etc.), so we've been busy. And as you can see, our efforts clearly wore Zander out on a couple of different occasions. This first time, he fell asleep right on the living room floor.

The second time he fell asleep right on the kitchen floor while I was unloading the dishwasher.

Kind of a funny pose if you ask me . . .

We also had a 24-hour stomach bug circulate around the house this past week, and Brian is the only one that has been spared so far. While I never enjoy the joys of stomach flues, I'm glad that the kids got it out of their system before this camping trip.

So I guess that's about it in this neck of the woods . . . what's going on with you?