Walkin' in Memphis!

Adam had this plan concocted in his head that we were going camping on his one weekend off (in who knows how long...it's been a long while). He knows I hate camping, but he figured I'd come along for one night. I humored him and packed and shopped for camping snacks during the day so that when he came home from work on Friday at 5pm we could just pack it all in the car and go. We did just that...but...things didn't go quite as planned. We drove to Mahoney State Park, which is about a 20 minute drive from our house. We've gone there before, but only to play and do the fun activities there. We drive up to the guy at the booth to pay our entrance fee and he tells us that he just sold out all the camp sites. He suggested that we either go to Lewisville State Park or Memphis State Park. As we started driving away, I informed Adam that we'd NOT be going to Lewisville, and that hopefully Memphis would be ok. We went to Lewisville a couple years back for a ward campout, and while it was a decent enough area, right on the ugly muddy Platte river...the train track runs RIGHT through the place, making it an awful sleepless night listening to train whistles (and I feared what it would be like with Spencer who doesn't sleep well in the first place!). To make this long story shorter, we got lost trying to find Memphis (darn, we didn't bring the GPS with us of course...we were only going 20-30 minutes from our house anyway!). I'd had enough listening to the kids whining in the car (or screaming in the case of Spencer) because by this time, it was dinnertime and we'd expected to be roasting (or EATING) the hotdogs that were so neatly tucked away in the ice chest. Great. I told Justin that I would set up the tent with him and sleep in our backyard and I'd figure out a way to make s'mores in the kitchen. He said ok, but was (of course) bummed. Just when we were about to give up, there was the sign "Memphis State Recreation Area" so we made a turn and got there, after another little jog around trying to find the darn place. When we drove through the city all we could do was groan, "Whoa...." without much else to say because of our shock. The sign said "Memphis, pop. 108." It's this very run down little old town. We got this picture of their city hall, which Adam doesn't believe that they really use, but I see current looking paperwork on the wall there so I think they DO use it. Scary.

Anyway, the recreation area has no "flush toilets" but it was survivable. It had a nice lake which Justin and I discovered the following morning must have a frog infestation...there were literally millions of little frogs EVERYWHERE and we had a good time chasing them (no WAY would Justin pick up a frog though!:)) It was actually quite scenic. We were able to start a fire, eat our hot dogs and smores before heading off to bed Friday night. We got up in the morning and made pancakes on our campstove and Justin was in heaven. He loved playing in the fire pit. The only major "down-er" to this trip was the guys who decided to come right about the time we fell asleep around 11pm and drink and drink and drink ALL NIGHT LONG...and somehow they ALL didn't pass out so they were loud and obnoxious until we got up in the morning. Particularly when they had their "music" (we'll call it that) blaring "Like and Briiiidddge Ooooover Troubled Water" and "Talkin' 'bout my Gennneration." Boy, I wanted to go toss 'em all in the lake! But we got a camping trip in before the cold season comes! It was perfect weather, a bit chilly at night, but not too bad. Chalk it up for memories!:)

Our pyro boy:

Playing by the tent, trying to keep Spencer from eating the poisonous berries and leaves, ew!

Trying to get some fire to start the campstove...the fire torch was magically out!:(

Boys at sunrise!!

Love this stuff--Bisquick Shake 'N Pour!

Spencer, 1 year old:

You can't see it well, but there's a frog in the bottom right corner of this picture: