Our Lake/Mountain House

Matt and I are proud owners of a 1994 Coleman Chesapeak pop-up camper! As much as we LOVE to camp, the summer is just miserably hot and sticky in a tent. We now have air conditioning so we can camp no matter how hot it is outside! Harley absolutely loves it! He just sits in front of the door and yelps until someone lets him inside.

One of the best parts of camping, is the afternoon naps. Matt and Tiger agree!

We have big plans for the pop-up. We have only taken it to Lake Lanier so far, but we are planning to go to the mountains later in the fall and maybe even to Jekyll Island this winter! I can assure you that there will be MANY more camping pictures to come!

Couldn't you get used to waking up with this view every morning?

Be sure to read the next post as well...getting ready to go camping is not always so fun!

More crummy luck.......

Earlier in the summer, I blogged about all of the crummy luck that Matt and I have. Well, the cloud of doom is still following us. Last week we got rid of Matt's truck and are now trying to find him a cheap, but reliable, used car that isn't a gas guzzler. So, we are down to my trusty 2007 Jeep Commander. Okay, so it may not be so trusty. It broke down in the Target parking lot back in June and had to be towed. We have had a variety of problems with it. Well, on Friday afternoon we were on our way camping (yes, I know that we camp more than anyone, but we love it). We stopped by Wal-Mart to pick up some last minute grocery items with the pop-up camper in tow. When we finished shopping, we loaded up the car in the parking lot, and hopped in. We were planning to run by the house, load up the dogs, and the last of our bags, and be on our way to the Lake for a relaxing weekend of camping. It didn't exactly happen that way. We got in the car and once again.....it would not crank! We had to have my car towed AGAIN. We were in the Wal-Mart parking lot with my car being loaded onto a tow truck, and the camper sitting alone in the parking lot. So there we were, with all of our bags and groceries sitting in the parking lot next to our pop-up camper (which was no longer attached to my Jeep, because it was on its way to the shop to get fixed AGAIN!) This would not have been that big of a deal, IF we had not just gotten rid of Matt's truck! I was seriously about to have a mental breakdown in the middle of the parking lot. I don't know how much more crummy luck I can handle! Well, luckily my mom doesn't work too far away, so she came to our resuce. She gave us her car for the weekend and my brother had to be her chaufer. Hopefully, my car will be fixed (for real this time) tomorrow and she can have her car back. We got to go camping and have our relaxing weekend after all, just a few kinks along the way!

G-E-O-R-G-I-A! Go Dawgs!

How can you not just fall in love with a face like that? These were too cute not to share!

Family Camp Out 2008

Many, many years ago, we started having a "Family Camp Out" with all of my moms' siblings and their children (my aunts, uncles, and cousins). This year was no different. We had our "Family Camp Out 2008" at Shoal Creek Campground on Lake Lanier this Labor Day weekend. We had a great turn out this year, there were around 25 people there the entire weekend. It is always so much fun to together with everyone!!! We see each other several times during the year, but this is always the most fun and relaxing to me. Mom booked the group site at the campground, so we had a HUGE place all to ourselves.

During the day, everyone kind of did their own thing. We took our boat, so we took several people out for a ride and went out later for a swim in the lake to cool off.

The boat ride was really smooth on the way up to Browns Bridge. I was actually surprised at how few people were out. On the way back was a different story! It was one of the roughest rides I have ever been on. Our heads were pounding by the time we got back to the campground. I have a massive brusie on my elbow from hitting it on the side of the boat so many times. Once we got back, getting out of the boat was more difficult for some than others......Kerri took quite the fall as her tennis shoe sunk completely in the mud as she jumped out of the boat. I guess it was one of those things that you had to be there, but it was hilarious!

The kids entertained themselves most of the weekend by riding their bikes and scooters, playing Checkers, Battleship, horseshoes, badmitten, basketball, and coloring. They were constantly on the move! It was so much fun watching them all play together!
At night, we all had fun playing a good old fashion game of BINGO!! To make it a little more interesting, we added a small fee to the cost of a card and the winner got the JACKPOT! (I won twice!) We also played Win, Lose, Or Draw on our last night.

Harley and Tiger always go camping with us! They are always exhausted by the end of the trip! They will be recovering from this weekend for the next week!