Weekend Camping Trip Part 2: Not Quite Kid Free

10/23/2015 R.C. Liley 2 Comments

Part 2 of our weekend camping trip brings us to our only full day of “roughing it” in the ~~wilderness~~ park with full facilities. This was our time for freedom from all parental responsibilities, time to spend time talking to each other without interruption and just enjoy one another’s company.

There was only one caveat; the campground was full of families with kids running around. Yep, the site next to us had a brother and sister close to Avery’s age, we could tell from the loud crying around nighttime (and we actually talked to the parents who are both really nice) but they were cute and had us missing our little girl back home.

Other, older kids around the site were not so cute and spent wayyyy too much time fishing right in front of our waterfront tent site as they screamed at anything and everything. It was okay during the day, but when it’s 9 at night and we were trying to get some rest, our patience dwindled. But we didn’t let that ruin our time together, especially not with a site like this.

Our day started by venturing out to the urban jungle nearby in search of black gold (aka coffee). After trudging through a few rough areas (construction) and dodging wild animals (people), we found our prey at a Starbucks. Yeah, so the coffee scene is lacking around this area, but we wanted caffeine dammit!

We made it back to camp and vowed to not drive again until we left the following day. With that, we took off to explore the area around Lake Lavon on foot while talking about how we missed our little girl and what we need to bring for our next trip that we forgot this time around. I was also searching for a large rock or other heavy object to get my squatting out of the way. Yes, I’m still squatting every day, but think I’m close to the end.

Finally, I found my rock of choice. It wasn’t the best, but it’s as if they don’t leave rocks laying around just for visitors to pick up and squat with. Ludicrous!

My squat variation of choice was front squats holding the rock up to my chest and did 5 rounds of 20 front squats.

I finished with a little conditioning by doing 4 rounds of 50 seconds on, 10 seconds off of split squats with foot elevated on the rock, push-ups on the rock, running in place, and bent rows using the rock. I felt like that was good enough, but geez, there were some sharp edges on that thing!

Meanwhile, my lovely wife (who actually knows how to relax) cheered me on and kept me motivated with beer and an empty chair waiting beside her.

I was ready to join her, but had to get something out of the way first. A cold jump in the lake.

Apparently, lakes in October are not very warm. Brrrr! I was pretty muddy after slogging out of the lake, so I made use of the shower on site before claiming that empty chair. Oh, and when they say warm showers in campsite amenities, that really means cold. Here I am afterward, obviously tense and covered in goosebumps.

I quickly changed into dry clothes and made use of our car as a clothesline. Note to self: bring clothesline for our next camping trip.

By this time, I was ready to settle down and just enjoy our surroundings. I grabbed a chilled can of Zevia Tonic Water to mix with vodka to enjoy in that empty chair Kelley had waiting for me.

Good thing my bride of 8 years has such a warm heart, she definitely helped to defrost my still shivering body from the cold lake and shower. Just seeing her smile can warm me inside and out on the coldest days! Yeah, I sound all gushy, but I tell no lies!

We made it a point to sit together to watch the sun set on the lake that evening. Our view was magnificent with the silhouette of this tree beside us.

But, as beautiful as it was, it seemed as if something was missing. Maybe just a little of….

….and a touch of…

…and topped off with…

Yeah, that’s more like it. Fun and romance captured on our camping trip. Oh hey, you can see that rock that cut my hands down there too.

We finished watching the sun on its descent with more drinks in hand as we listened to kids run around and scream all around us. Even with the screams, I wouldn’t trade that semi-peaceful moment with my wife for anything, it’s something we don’t get to enjoy enough. Not to mention actually being able to hold a conversation without the common toddler interruption.

Once it turned completely dark, we spent the remainder of the night in our tent doing what any couple would do with no kids around; watch more How I Met Your Mother. Thank you, Verizon mobile hot spot!

Our data is almost out for the month and we just started a new cycle, but it was soooo worth it. We both had trouble sleeping that night. Mainly from the screaming kids and parents fishing right next to our tent, but the sloped ground didn’t help matters. But, alas, we made it through the night and didn’t spend much time before heading home to G-Ma and Avery.

The drive back took only half as long as it did there, and we were glad to get back home to our little girl. Only problem was, something just happened that had her in a very bad mood for almost the rest of the day.

I’ll fill you in next time, but for now, be sure to check out the sponsored giveaways I posted for Purina Beneful and family games from Spin Master.

Ever plan a getaway with your significant other and no kids only to have kids all around anyway?

Contest, Earn Income, Giveaway, Promo

Purina Beneful Sweepstakes: Find Your Dog’s Flavor Personality & Win

10/22/2015 R.C. Liley 2 Comments

Sponsored post by Lunchbox.

How many of you have dogs? They’re our best friends and protectors (or supposed to be), and just like our kids, we want to keep them happy and healthy. Thankfully, Purina Beneful has a many options to do just that for our beloved canines.

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Make sure to take the quiz for your best friend and maybe you will both be rewarded as a result. How does a tasty and healthy meal for them, and a $1000 American Express Gift Card for you sound? Yeah, sounds good to me too.

After taking the quiz, please come back and tell me which product your dog will be lucky enough to have served. Ours will be enjoying the Healthy Weight Dry Dog Food. I’m still waiting to hear back about winning though…..fingers crossed!

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Life, Parenting

Weekend Camping Trip Part 1: Getting There

10/21/2015 R.C. Liley 4 Comments

Last weekend, my wife and I went on our first camping trip together. It was for our belated 8th anniversary celebration which was August 17 and we had my mom watch Avery at our house just like on our 7th anniversary.

It was also her 31st birthday on Monday, the 19th, so you can call it a little b-day celebration too. I even went all out and got her a Walking Dead Yahtzee Collector’s Edition game for us to play while camping.

Yeah, I’m a romantic, huh? Actually, we both love The Walking Dead, and I figured since we need more games for family fun, why not make it a little unique? Avery might be scared to play for a while though. Even I might be a little hesitant to shake the dice in that zombie head.

We were leaving for our campsite on Friday, but G-Ma had to work so we couldn’t head out until the afternoon. This was okay since we put off really packing until the day of anyway, and I needed to make sure we had the essentials. As a self-proclaimed camping newbie, I was confident I’d forget something, but wanted to make sure I at least had the food part ready.

Slow-cooker black beans with quinoa, big batch of slow-cooker steel cut oats with NuttZo, steamed sweet and white potatoes, canned sardines, salmon and rice, homemade NuttZo Banana Bread, beer, vodka, and Zevia (for a healthy vodka mixer, duh).

Not pictured were Lily’s Stevia Sweetened Dark Chocolate Chips, Elyon Marshmallows, and Annie’s Bunny Grahams to toss in foil and melt in a big gooey skillet s’mores concoction. Besides the s’mores, everything else was to be had cold since my newbie self did not have anything to cook/heat food while camping. It’s on the list now.

I also made a big batch of lentils and quinoa and put together several snacks for G-Ma and Avery to have while we were gone to make sure everyone was eating well for the weekend. Once my mom made it to our house, we gave her the rundown on sleeping, eating, playing, and whatnot, then gave it once more to make sure we didn’t leave anything out. After Kelley got Avery down for a nap, we said our farewells and took off for our long awaited camping trip.

What Google Maps said would take an hour was more like 2 hours since it was rush hour on a Friday. Cue Loverboy because Everybody’s Working for the Weekend and we all had places to go. After lots of mild cursing and the requisite mini arguments all couples have when driving to unknown destinations, we finally made it to Lavonia Park to camp on Lake Lavon.

You can reserve campsites online, which I did, but I only had 2 options for our dates and the rest were shown as taken. Our reserved site was away from the lake with no electric and in an odd area, so we decided to drive around before setting up shop for our 2-night stay. Wouldn’t you know, we came across a site right on the lake with electricity and no occupants. The electric sites cost $15 more per night, but we figured we might as well give it a go and test our luck.

“Besides, what’s the worst that could happen, they come and tell us to move?” so said my dear wife. Well, yes, yes it can and did happen. Only problem was, was it was pure dark by the time the elderly (and proud) Gate Attendant drove by to tell us we were at the wrong site and to move or pay more. Obviously we weren’t moving everything after unpacking, so we paid the extra and got over it.

Plus, we were already set on using the electricity to watch How I Met Your Mother on my laptop. It only took almost all our monthly data on Verizon to use our phones as mobile hot-spots, but it was so worth it to watch the shows without worrying about waking Avery. It’s the little things….

Go ahead, make fun of us for watching shows while camping, but damn, it was fun, and we really had no other plans anyway. By the time we unpacked that first night, we went for a dark walk around the park, used a fire starter log to make our foil skillet s’mores (there is a burn ban, so we could only use the grill…no ground fires like I pictured), and settle in for dinner and watching several shows.

Tent to the left, car to the right, and the lake was behind the camera. Really beautiful park and cleaner than I expected. Some of the restrooms were a little run down, but that’s not a big surprise anywhere. The biggest annoyance were the swarms of tiny bugs invading our face no matter where we stood. Another list item, bug spray. Oh, and tent stakes which I forgot like a dufus would, and of course it was windy. Go me!

But who can complain when you look up to this?

So that was our first night. I’ll share the next day, our full day alone sans kid in the next post. But, we couldn’t quite escape the kids; I’ll tell you why next time!

Have you ever been camping?

Ever go camping with your kids or do you want to? We want to take Avery, but think we’ll test it in the backyard first.