The Great Outdoors, by the Queen of the Indoors

The semester is well underway, and blogging has become harder. Mostly because I am completely brain dead by the time I sit down to try and write something.  Oh well, it happens.   We have done some fun things lately, camping probably being the most fun.

I had never been camping prior to last April.  My family wasn't really into the great outdoors.  My parents tried to burn some trash one time and burnt down a 6 acre pasture and part of the neighbors yards, so I also have an aversion to purposely starting fires.  Besides, in Florida, there are two main weather conditions - hot and muggy, and slightly less hot but still muggy.  And there are bugs - tons of them.  So growing up, I wasn't too sorry that we didn't camp.  We had some really great family vacations involving hotels, and that was just fine with me, but in kansas, the weather is much more suited to getting outside. There is, by and large, much less humidity, and there are an amazing number of state parks, with a surprising amount of water for a land-locked state.  Our first trip was to Fredonia. W didn't bring enough firewood or enough charcoal, we didn't bring enough blankets to sleep in 50 degree weather comfortably, and it was so windy that I thought the tent would blow over, but I loved it. Ian loved it too, proclaiming, "My sleep good in a tent!" the next morning. We cooked hotdogs for dinner that night, and even though it was really chilly the next morning, we made eggs and bacon over the fire for breakfast. It was peaceful out there, and so relaxing to sit in front of the fire, staring at the moonlit lake that night while Ian slept in the tent.

A couple of weekends ago, we went to Tuttle Creek. It's actually an enormous lake in Manhattan (Kansas, not New York). This time we had sleeping bags, tons of charcoal, and plenty of firewood. We also brought Ian's fishing pole, his bike, and his football.  Thank God we only have one kid - if we had two someone would've had to ride on top of the car. It was a great day and great evening. We are getting better at fire building and outdoor cooking. And again, the relaxed feeling from sitting around the fire lasted all week. I can't wait to go again.

My brother and sister bought me a sleeping bag for my birthday. My birthday is in May, and I thought that we'd go camping to celebrate it, but it was 30 degrees that weekend. So I just got to use it on this trip.  Being a camping newbie, I picked out the bag partly based on color. I mean, priorities people - it is a pretty bag!  It was a mummy bag, and I thought that since I froze the last time, this would be perfect. And it would have been, except I panic if my head is surrounded, don't  like my arms trapped, and sleep on my side. So you know, I figured out quickly that I am not a mummy bag person, even if is a pretty one.  I'm going to let Ian use it - I am not 4ft tall nor do I weight 100lbs, which are the approximate size suggestions for it.  I'm going to get the same type of bag, only rectangular though - it kept me very warm and comfy.  So, the queen of the indoors loves camping - who knew?  I still don't like bugs, ticks, spiders, snakes, and being too hot, but a game of football with my guys (Ian always wins) beside a lake with a fire afterwards is pretty amazing.