No Place Like Home...click...click...

We've been home for a week and so this seems late, but I have had a hard time putting our trip into words. Well, words that didn't sound negative and complainy (I can make up words). When people ask me if we had a fun trip I have a hard time answering because it was mostly work. It was much better than it could have been. But it was hard and a LOT of work. Abiah loved it and so did Nathan. I had a nice time with the family but being out in the woods with a 20 months old and a 7 month old is a lot of work. Have I mentioned that it was a lot of work yet?

This was my 5th year of hunting with Nathan's family. Usually we camp out in the woods where there are no eminities. We brought up water, my father-in-law dug a hole and put up the "crapper"tent, we took two minute showers every other day, and when the guys were out hunting we women spent most of our time in the trailer hiding from the many noises outside. It worked well. We had it figured out and it was "roughing it" but it worked. This year we would have seven adults and six kids ages 7 months to 6 years.... we decided to try out the local camp ground.

My in-laws still brought the trailer and we ended up in sights that only had water but we loved it. The camp hostess cleaned the bathroom 8 times a day. She tried to clean the showers after every use. The kids could run around and play and we didn't have to worry too much about wild animals. There was a play ground with "wings" as Hazel called them and our camp sites were close together and close to the bathrooms. This made our trip easier and I'm so glad we went there. We are going back next year, too.

While we were camping I started compiling a list of lessons learned on this trip.

Lessons Learned Hunting 2009

• Reading The Shack isn't a good idea if you ever plan to camp with your children.
• Synchronizing kids nap schedules with other camping family members is a must.
• Synchronizing nap schedules does not mean that all kids will actually be asleep at the same time.
• Bringing a fan to drown out noises is a great idea....when you have electricity.
• Swapping dinner for lunch makes for an easier clean up/bed time/relaxing evening.
• It takes a whole village to raise six children, a dog and a praying mantis.
• Four women is not a village.
• Finding food for Lucinda the Mantis is a great activity for bored kids.
• Finding a male mantis "friend" for Lucinda the Mantis leads to uncomfortable questions from kids about why bugs give piggy back rides to each other.
• A five hour kids free trip to a podunk town to do laundry for almost three hours and browse a few shops makes for a refreshed and happy momma.
• When every step you take causes a dust storm expect everything to be covered in dust. Kids, clothes, camping gear, food, vehicles, mantises...
• When you return home from an 11 day trip there is more laundry to do than you knew existed in your house.
• When the hubby washes his USED game bags in YOUR washing machine there will be remnants of things that God and the Maytag Man never meant to be in there.
• Hubby will clean these remnants out of washing machine OR ELSE!
• Scheduling a pedicure for the day after you get back is crucial to returning to a "normal" state of womanliness.
• I can live 11 days without Facebook, my blog and email....it just takes a while for the shaking to stop.

Also, we had a very successful hunt. My FIL got a 4x4 bull elk at the beginning of the trip. Nathan went back up this last weekend and also got a 4x4 bull elk. And then Nathan's childhood best friend, Jesse, was here from Texas and got a 6x5 bull elk and gave the meat to Nathan's sister and brother-in-law. So we all will have freezers full of meat for this year. I'm very proud of Nathan and his accomplishment. And I do like being out there with him. I just have to remember it will get easier.

Pictures coming soon!