The Beaven Family: Camping!

I can't begin to describe the thoughts that go through my mind when someone asks me if I want to go camping.

It is an autonomic response of which I have no control.

My pupils dilate and respiratory rate goes sky high.

I can feel my blood pressure plummeting and the bottom of my stomach dropping out.

Oh, and the sweating. Don't forget the sweating.

I start to panic and that part of my brain responsible for self preservation begins to formulate all these unbelievable lies like how I forgot I need to be out of the country that weekend, that meeting I have with the White House or the brain surgery that just so happens to be scheduled over Columbus Day weekend...

(Yeah, I'm a terrible liar. I'm one of those "what you see is what you get" kind of people)

And then.

I think about who is asking and how much I would truly enjoy spending time with them.

I think about my kids who LOVE camping (surely they were switched at birth) and how happy this would make them.

My resolve begins to soften and I begin to realize that like it or not, I'm going camping.

Better buckle up, buttercup, this is really happening to you.

(I completely believe that camping is an event that happens to you, not something you do)

And then... I hear the magic words that give me just a glimmer of hope that maybe I can get through this without weeks of dread followed by days of extreme emotional issues just prior to the "event" (mostly sadness and anger).

"We have a camper".

My initial reaction is one of euphoria and glee. YAY! No sleeping on the cold hard ground! No cooking around a fire pit. No eating dirt! No having to unzip the door to my home to enter!

I. Really. Can. Do. This.

I AM a good mom!

And darn it, people like me.

Like anyone who has experienced such rapid mood changes, the pendulum can't help but swing right back the other way and doubt and fear began to creep back in..

Why did they tell me that? Are they just bragging? Or was that an invitation to join them in their "almost a home, definitely not a tent" ways? They are already a family of 5 and I'm 4 more... how could there be enough space? Wonder if I can sneak in at night and leave my kids in the tent with no one noticing?

Thankfully, they weren't bragging. They actually meant for us to share their climate controlled, electricity wielding, coffee pot owning camper.

YAY!!!

They were going to be camping in Pennsylvania. Because of all the crazy things I had going on at the time with the kids, I couldn't go up and stay, but I did swing by my sisters house and drop off Mr. Beags for a weekend of fun and play with his cousin of the same irritating age, Riley. Semper joined us on our camping trip.

I took this picture for Jeremy. I was so impressed with the fall colors that either didn't show up in this picture or weren't there in the first place, but all my desert eyes saw was an Autumn wonderland. Oops!

Happy Camper. I big time heart this doggie.

Sweet Semper Dogs had a great time on her weekend away from that pesky little brother. She immediately became Rick's sidekick for the weekend. He was doing the bulk of the cooking outside on a grill and she would go out and sit by the picnic table with him, just enjoying the cool weather and good company. She looked so peaceful and content.

There may have been some food tossed her way. She's not telling and neither is Rick.

The Octoberization of a Desert Rat.

I find the contrast of a child acclimated to Yuma and a child acclimated to Maryland to be wildly amusing.

We bought some sugar cookies and frosting for the kids to decorate one evening. It's the craft that just doesn't stop giving. Abby used both of her cookies to make one wolf cookie.