We had the best time on our camping trip. I don't think that we could have had anymore fun, even with the things that "went wrong". Well... maybe having a train whistle blow into your ears every 4.5 minutes from 2 am - 6 am isn't living in the lap of luxury, but there are sacrifices to be made everywhere. Our trip out to Bessey Recreation Area was full of lots of "Mama Mia" music, snacks, coloring in new coloring books, "are we there yets", and "I have to go pottys". We were packed too the gills in the truck both inside and out, but we were so excited to get there that we didn't even mind. Traveling towards us was Lisa, Lonnie, and the girls. They were also packed very tightly looking like the Beverly Hillbillies traveling down the highway. Once we got there, we had to try real hard to maintain our PA (positive attitude), because the pool was drained, the wind was blowing, the train was whistling, and the bathroom near us was closed. However, we were determined to look past all of that, and find some fun - which we did at the river!! I couldn't believe how brave the kids were in the river! They just jumped right in. They were floating down on their tummies and backs enjoying the way the current pushed them downstream. The water was warm and "clean", and the wind had died down. We stayed in the water for a long while and then headed back to camp, piled in the back of the truck looking a lot like the other rednecks we encountered in the campground. Dinner was awesome!! We had steaks, hamburgers, potatoes, home-grown corn, homemade chocolate cake with strawberries and whipped cream ; it was a meal for royalty! Everyone was so helpful in cooking and cleaning that the whole process was easy and fun - even though we were being eaten up by every mosquito in Nebraska . After dinner, we all sat around the fire and played charades - Lauren and Meredith were especially great at this game! Meredith called it the "show" because we would all shine our flashlights on the performer as they acted out the crazy words that we came up with. We had so much fun being together. Michael stuck to Ashley like glue. Our first night in the tent was sort of restful and very cozy; all the kids slept all night, in spite of our friendly, neighboring trains. I don't know that the grownups got any sleep that night. The next morning, we had a delicious breakfast of coffee, eggs, bacon, pancakes, fruit. Once again the food was yummy and the meal was easily cleaned up because we all helped. After breakfast, we tried to go on a hike. We slowly realized that this wasn't going to happen after we all had thorns and stickers shoved into our flipflops. But even the short little walk that we took was fun. After our hike, we tried to fish in a big pond, which was very unsuccessful. The only living things that we saw in the water were bugs and a turtle. That was disappointing because we got all of the fishing poles strung and baited and then didn't have any "fish" luck. So we went back to our camp and played around before we made lunch (hotdogs!), and then took off for another adventure. This adventure was a ride to a tall tower which we walked around, and then to another river (the Dismal) to play. That river was a little more squishy and muddy on the bottom, but still fun for the kids. Patrick and the kids caught a "pig-nose" turtle in a net! I didn't see it, but they said that it had a nose shaped like a pig. Patrick caught various other wildlife in the water but said that none of it was good enough to keep and cook, much to Lisa's disappointment. We then went full-blown redneck and decided to take baths in the river. It was refreshing to get a little bit "cleaned up". The girls loved having their hair washed in the river. I actually did too (after a little bit of coercing)! After our baths we traveled back to camp (some getting to have snacks, some not) for Ashley's wonderful supper of Hobo packets and Banana boats. The food was SO delicious and it was great to watch Ashley teach us how to make what she had learned at camp this summer. Everyone helped make ice cream; Kaitlyn was especially great at kicking the ice-cream ball around using her great soccer feet. After supper, Meredith and Lauren wanted to "do the show" again, so we played some more charades and then the kids headed to bed They were all very tired and happy. The 4 of us "big people" sat around the fire, relaxing, enjoying PBR and other yummy drinks, talking and laughing under a gorgeous sky filled with zillions of stars. A perfect ending to a perfect day. I think that we all slept better that night, because the trains weren't so frequent. Well, at least I slept fine :). The next morning we had another delicious pancake breakfast. Marky, Brittany, Maddie and Kaitlyn formed a club in the woods, and they played in that while we started to take our camp down. That was a little sad for me, because I didn't want to have our weekend end. Our time together as families is so limited and we had anticipated this special weekend all summer long. We had such a fun time together, and I just wanted it to keep going! Once we were all packed up, we made one last trip down to the river so that the kids could play. It was colder that day, but the big girls still had fun. Lisa and I went on a nice walk through the campground while the dads and kids got one last taste of the river. We changed into dry clothes, had a snack of Lisa's amazing cookies & watermelon, and headed for North Platte where we had lunch together. As we were driving to North Platte, Michael said that he wanted Ashley to come back to our house, and I asked him where she would sleep if she came home with us. He said "She can sleep with me in my bed". He is smitten :). We parted ways in the parking lot of Amigos where we had lunch. It was the best camping trip ever, and it was the best way to say an official goodbye to summer.
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