Outdoor Family Time

Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share
1

There were vague plans earlier to try a Family Camping Trip this past weekend. It would have been the first time the Little Woman has been camping in a Very Long Time, the first time we’d use the new Tent, the first time Katcha would have gone camping ever (and he’s just recently become Reliably Housebroken Overnight), and we’d have to find someone to watch Nicki since she’s 14 now and really wouldn’t Enjoy the Whole Thing. (Lucy would have been Fine, so she would have gone with us.) All in all, it was decided that camping without the camping out part would be the way to go.

“But how can you do that,” you ask? “Camp without the camping out? That makes no sense. And what’s with the Random Capital Letters this week?”

It’s easy. We did all the camping out stuff, only when it was time to go to sleep we were at home, so it was beddy-bye time with actual beds. And I just Wanted To. You can stop reading now if it Bothers You.

When we got up Saturday morning, we headed out to the Wilderness of Dayton. They have a good set of Parks, Dayton does. We went to Sugarcreek MetroPark which was the third time there for me and Soupo, but the first time for the Little Woman and Katcha. It was a nice little walk (hike really, since I had Stick and Soupo had his MiniStick) and we saw the old trees (The Three Sisters, three 550+ year old trees all growing in a fenced in area. Well, two are growing and one is pretty much dead.) and the Tree Tunnel (which is a line of Osage Orange trees that grow over the trail and make a tunnel- it’s neat-o), and then we just walked around some. We were doing pretty well too, until Katcha’s legs got tired. It made for a long 20 minutes getting back to the car with his tired legs.

Then we went Home and had Lunch.

“Wait,” you say. “That’s just a little hiking. That’s not nearly enough stuff to count as camping.”

Shut up. I’m getting to the other part.

Earlier, like in February, I got one of those “Backyard Fireplace” thingies (from Target, natch) while it was on Clearance and a couple of weeks ago I put it together. I fired that bad boy up and we cooked hot dogs over it for Dinner. Hot dogs cooked over an open fire, that’s the Heart and Soul of Camping. Then, for dessert, we had S’mores. See? More camping-related stuff. Hiking, a weenie roast (SpellCzech said that sould be “Winnie roast” which wouldn’t be as nice) and S’mores.

If we wanted to go All Out, we could have set up the new Tent in the backyard and slept out there. But we didn’t mention this Option to the boys, so when they got tired, they went inside and had a bath (they were both sweaty, sticky things that smelled of wood smoke) and went to bed. They must have been really tired too from all the day’s fun. They slept in until 8:30 Sunday instead of getting up at their regular 8:00.

Only a Parent could call 8:30 “sleeping in”. But sometimes you just have to take what you can get.
-Rue.

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Good morning!

3

Boy, rue, do you really think we’re all that hostile that we’d challenge the Master of the MMP like that? Yeesh! :wink:

Mr. Anachi’s idea of camping out is the Holiday Inn over at the Beach. (See, I can random capitalize, too!) :smiley: I agree. I used up all my campin’ out coupons back in the late ‘70s with the Klingon. We camped out all over the states for a while there in our VW pop-top camper which was sorta like campin’ in a tent cause it had canvas sides when you popped the top an all. So, anyhoo, now I like my campin’ to have cable TV, AC, room service and hot showers just steps away from a comfy mattress. I’m just sayin is all.

I had a lovely Mother’s Day yesterday with The Princess[sup]TM[/sup]. She took me shopping, to a movie, and to a late sushi lunch. She’s such a good daughter! We won’t speak about her brother cause he’s going through a phase. :rolleyes:

Last nite I watched a movie-sorta-thingy on Discovery Theater HDTV about what will happen if the Yellowstone caldera blows up again. I think we’re all pretty much screwed. Oh, and tyin’ this up neatly with the campin’ thing, when the Klingon and I were camped out at Mesa Verde National Park, we actually saw the ash cloud from Mt. St. Helens. We didn’t know it at the time cause we didn’t have no cable TV or nuffink, but when we climbed up to the top of the mesa, there was a brown haze on the horizon. (For those who don’t know, Mesa Verde National Park is in southwestern Colorado just over the New Mexico border, which is a long, long way from Mt. St. Helens. :eek:

Tupug

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Wow, you had an Eventful Weekend, didn’t you? That’s what I miss about not having any Kids - doing stuff like that. I think it would be something that I would Enjoy.

I reserved my spot for next month’s annual Company Golf OUting. Whne asked what my handicap was, I stated “Having to hit the ball with an Iron.” I hope they realize that I meant the golf club normally known as an iron (as opposed to a putter or driver.) I’m thinking someone will figure it out before June 8th.

And Happy Monday to y’all.

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Yay for Katcha and his great outdoor adventure. Now that he is officially RHO, I assume he’ll be included in DeDay Manly Man Activities[sup]TM[/sup] from now on? Hot dogs and 'smores cooked outside. I am soooooo jealous! I’m guessing the sticky boy thing was due mainly to 'smores. They’ll do that to little boys. Maybe Soupo and Katcha can camp out in the backyard during summer. That was such a fun boy thing to do! There are so many ways to terrorize a little brother in the backyard at night.

I had to work Saturday morning. I had to set up a display at Gnat Days in the exciting town of Camilla, GA. Then I went to my mom’s house cause of Mother’s Day and such. We had a family cookout late Saturday afternoon. Then, I went down to my sister’s house and we drank beer and carried on for a while. Yesterday morning, good son that I am, I went to church with mom (even bought her a white orchid corsage to wear cause I’m such a good son). Then we had lunch at sis’s place. I left about 3:30ish yesterday afternoon to come home cause I was tired and needed to do some laundry. I did laundry and ACBG came over with pizza. We ate pizza then got all snuggly for a while. So my weekend was, work, family, laundry, pizza and snuggling. All in all not too bad. Oh, and I got to see the pet show at Gnat Days. A sheep named Precious won best overall pet. Miss Camilla (whom I dubbed Miss Gnat, HAH!) emceed the pet show. She is a junior communications major at Kennesaw State University. It showed, too. Every other sound out of her mouth was either uhh, awesome, or super. I don’t think she makes all A’s.

Five days and counting til I get to meet Taters, Bumba and a bunch of other dopers in Seattle! I’m all excited. I think this may be better than hot dogs and 'smores cooked outside even.

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Camping? Yeah, I’m not so much the camping type. Although I think even I could handle the kind of camping **Rue **described.

Big news in taxi-ville: Things haven’t been going so well with TaxiDriver for a while and we broke up over the weekend. Which would be really sad except that I’ve met someone. Actually meeting someone kinda precipitated the breakup, which I otherwise would have put off indefinitely. And technically I haven’t met him. He’s a Doper and not from really close to taxi-ville. I’ll leave it up to him as to whether he wants to reveal his identity to the MMP, but he’s not a regular MMPer so I don’t know if he’ll wander through here. Anyway, I’m absolutely head-over-heels, SOOOOO excited and happy and using words like “giddy” to describe my state of mind, which is not normally something I’d do. But I have to say I LOVE THIS PLACE. :smiley:

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Preliminary congrats, taxi ! SDMB seems to be a good place to meet people. I haven’t quite found my special someone here yet - how could I, when the perfection that is swampy taunts me? How could anyone else measure up?

My weekend did not involve Small Children. At least not directly. There were SC (not South Carolina, sillies - Small Children. Pay attentioN!) wandering around where I went. Couldn’t keep ‘em away, I guess. Gotta spray better. Anyway, where I went wuz the Maryland Sheep and Wool Festival. Didn’t know there was a festival like that, did ya’? Well, now I’ve dun learned ya. I went Saturday, looked at a lot of wool yarn (that’s what I was there for. Although my love of sheep is well known. And no, not that kind of love, ya perverts!). There was assorted Carnival Fud, which I skipped. It was kinda weird, though - on one side you had the Sheep competitions - and on the other side, you had the Sheep Ka-bobs. Guess it saves on taking home the losers.

I didn’t actually leave the apartment much on Sunday - it was sunny but windy. I tried to leave, but just as I did, this huge gust of wind came up and blew me back to my apartment. Metaphorically, that is. I stood up to the wind - but felt it would be nicer back in my apartment, so I ske-daddled back.

Susan

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BWAAAHAAAHAAAHAAAHAAAHAAA!!!

MMMMMM… sheep on a stick! Ok, actually I don’t like sheep or lamb or mutton or whatever it’s called. I just thought that was really funny.

s_f if you ever saw me you’d probably run screaming to get away. How do I know? Well, sometimes I look in the mirror and then before I know it I’m half a mile away cause I ran screaming to get away from myself. And I’m still there! :eek:

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Gee, last week’s MMP talked about pooh a lot and now Rue is roasting Winnies on an open fire. I’m worried. Stay away from Tigger, Rue!

I didn’t go camping, in fact I don’t think I even went outside all weekend.

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Hey! It’s Shibb! Hi Shibb, how ya been? How’s things going?

Puggy, if a mere TV show has you all a-sceered that the Yellowstone caldera is gonna blow up, don’t (DON’T) read Bill Bryson’s A Short History of Nearly Everything. Between volcanoes, global warming (the regular, natural kind, not the speeded-by-people up kind), asteroids and mutating germs we’re all screwed. We’re overdue for Big Things to happen.

Not one of the things I did last weekend really needed a kid to do Sean. You can do it, if you want. All you have to do is Believe in Yourself. But having a kid around kinda motivates you to do stuff like that. Make 'em tired so the go to sleep and Get Out of Your Hair. That’s the Motivation for most Parents: keep the kids Quiet and Out of Your Hair.

They weren’t particularly s’more sticky Swampy. Kids just get… sticky. All by themselves. You just sit a kid in a room by their own selves and lock the door. Come back (you have to come back) and check on them in, like, 15 minutes and odds are they are sticky. (Boys are worse than girls on the stickiness. But not by much.)

I went to my Mom’s house for Mother’s Day too. We had brie cheese and ice cream cake. (Not at the same time.) The ice cream cake was better.

Taxi, if your New Man is “not a regular MMPer”, he should try to get more fiber in his diet and drink a lot of water. It’d help.

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MMMMMMMMMMM… Brie cheese and ice cream cake. That one of the new DQ flavors Rue? I know you said not at the same time, still, I’m intrigued. Brie is a soft cheese. Maybe it could be blended with soft serve ice cream then hard frozen for a new sophisticated adult taste treat. It’s a wonder that the Food Network ain’t beatin’ down my door to offer me a show!

taxi, uhh, all kinds of mixed emotions over your news. Breaking up is sad. Finding somebody new is good. Meeting that somebody new you find is even better so I hope that happens soon. Cmon, anonymous doper, reveal yourself!

12

BWAHAHAHA!

Thanks for all the congrats, wishes, etc. I just can’t stop looking like this: :smiley: I’m making my coworkers sick.

Yeah, there’re all kinds of things I didn’t think of with breaking up. Like a “family share” cell phone plan that some how has to be separated. And I’m probably going to the city where his (ex’s) family lives this week for work, and I was going to stop by to see them… but pro’lly not such a good idea any more. AND, now I won’t get down to NC to meet MagicEyes! :frowning:

But then there’re all the good things about meeting someone absolutely incredible who makes me look like this :smiley:

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So…should I be expecting an invitation to the Friar’s Club or stocking up on asbestos underwear? Or both?

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More importantly, should we have 'smores or brie and ice cream cake for dessert?

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I didn’t do any camping this weekend either. However, I did participate in outdoor activities. We went out on the boat and took a couple, few friends with us. It was fun. We fished, but didn’t have the correct type of bait. All I caught was a rod and a reel, with all it’s pop gear and what not. We threw it back. The reel was pretty corroded.

Yesterday we had to go to my sis’s in Port Orchard for mom’s day. Flowers, cards, and plants were exchanged, food was eaten and there was conversation. Then we went home. The kids made me a huge breakfast yesterday morning, the hubby woke me up at 0730 with a huge bunch of roses, and the kids were good ALL DAY. They didn’t bicker, or roll their eyes at me when I asked them to do something. It was a good day.

Taxi, grats on meeting the new friend deal. Anyone that makes you feel :smiley:
has got to be great.

Five more days until Swampy Stalks Seattle! I’m jazzed. I get to meet Bumba and Swampy so it’ll be a MMP TWO-FER! Plus I get to meet Mrs. Bumba and a bunch of Seattle Dopers too!

I sent pictures of the hubby and I to **Swampy ** and Bumba. Hopefully, I didn’t scare them off. I couldn’t find any good pictures so I had to send pictures of us in Halloween costumes and one where we’ve been camping for three days. Camping does not enhance the appearance of your hair.

Well, I must actually work now.

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Wow, does that OP make me want to reminisce about the “multi-family going out to Sedge Island.” But I have work to do, so I will.

Every sumer my family and two or three other families (depending on how you count it) go out to this particular small island in Long Island Sound. Now this island is completely under water at high tide, so the date must be planned carefuly. We all stock up our dingies and row boats with wood (for a fire), and burgers 'smore stuff, and hot dogs (to cook on said fire), and people. Everyone goes out there, and we have a good time for about three or four hours, starting with things like the younger kids wandering around the little island, finding hermit crabs and such, the older kids having chips and soda, talking aobut whatever, and the adults knocking back few beers talking about past trips and fishing (talking about it, not doing. Sedge has terrible fishing). Later everone pigs out on dogs and burgers. Near the end of the night, s’mores are had, and everyone lays around by the fire, just talking, and when the tide is high enough, and the island has shrank noticeably, we all head home to our nice warm beds.

17

Brie and strawberries - yum! Better than sex. I bought some brie and strawberries this weekend, but I need to buy some more strawberries; we ended up eating them over ice cream. I also bought some smoked gouda, and we already have some pears all nice and ripe. We’ll probably eat them for dessert tonight.

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So our Winnie roast dessert could be strawberries and brie and ice cream cake. It just keeps gettin’ better! Food Network here I come!

Speaking of pictures, I did get pictures of the lovely Taters and handsome Bumba along with pictures of the lovely Mrs. Bumba and handsome Mr. Taters in my email yesterday! The loveliness and handsomeness was almost too much to behold!

I sent em my picture too. They’ve probably had to bleach their eyes so that’s why we might hear much from Taters and Bumba this week. It’s all my fault. I’d bring em some strawberry/brie/ice cream cake this weekend but I don’t think it travels real well.

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Aw see, now you’re just being nice :o . I do not photograph well. I should have had the daughter take new pictures of us so I could load them in the 'puter to send to you. I thought you were handsome and thought **Bumba ** was handsome too. Mrs. Bumba was lovely as well.

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Rue DeDay, I don’t believe you when you say you used SpellCzech. There are far too many vowels in your post.