Into the woods...

So this past weekend we went on our first family camping trip to Hillsborough River State Park. It was actually the first time I camped with Shawn as well. I think we did pretty well for first timers, but it just wouldn't be a Daniels' family vacation if there wasn't a little humor involved. Don't believe me? Read my post on the cruise we went on! First let me start with the packing situation...

I am not a good packer. I always get a good start at doing a good job. I lay out my outfits, planning for each day appropriately, but as the departure times gets closer panic sets in. I start running through all the "what-if's". What if it rains? What if I fall and get dirty? What if a coyote eats my favorite sweater? It doesn't matter where I'm going, or if I've been there before I always get panicky. So in order to put myself at ease enough to avoid a full blown anxiety attack I pack EVERYTHING. Think I'm kidding...we went camping for 2 nights at a campsite 45 minutes from our house and 20 minutes from the closest Wal-Mart but having such amenities within a short drive didn't stop me. Oh no...just the pharmaceuticals I took was out of control. I took Calamine lotion, 2 different anti-itch creams, antiseptic spray, regular children's Tylenol, day-time and night-time cold-medicines, a thermometer, and a small first aid kit with band-aids and gauze. I packed 5 pair of pants, 5 pairs of shoes and enough shirts for a week. Two different hoodies (remember the coyote's could eat one) and at least 5 tubes of chap-stick. Sick...I know!

But I'm not the only one with packing issues. My husband also suffers from OPS (over-packing syndrome) and I think because he knows I'm panicking his need to "take care of his women" kicks into over-drive and he tries to be prepared for anything that might make me totally spaze out :). Anywho, after loading everything into the truck THIS is what it looked like.

Remember it's only for two nights we'll be camping. And you can't even see what's on the inside of the truck!

Shawn was taking a TV with us until I asked him if he had packed his digital converter box as well!

So, no TV, but we did have the lap-top and apparently free wi-fi. So Shawn and Allan (husband of Denise) watched an afternoon movie and took advantage of some of the free showings on Hulu (love Hulu!)

On Saturday, everyone went canoeing, we have our own John Boat which is nice as it also has a battery powered motor which means NO PADDLING!! Only trouble is, for being Hillsborough RIVER state park the only access to the river is via hand portage...meaning you carry your vessel to the water!! I suppose this really only sucked for Shawn since he did the carrying while I took the little one for a potty break and waited patiently (okay, so I complained briefly about being the last ones out onto the water...it was only briefly though).

Here's our captain preparing our ship.

Here I am sunning myself while the little one helps daddy by paddling the boat backwards :)

Here's a cool looking tree...which also shows how low the water levels are!!

Here's the little one...

Self-portrait...

Oh Captain, my Captain...

It was pretty and peaceful on the river, and the weather was perfect.

The ginormous gator we saw sitting on the bank.

The tree my little one asked daddy to drive the boat under. He of course couldn't say no!

Me taking a picture as we passed under, secretly hoping the flash would go off and prevent any spiders from jumping on my head!

The sweet look of success. I think he was actually waiting to see if I was going to yell at him :)

All in all it was a good weekend. We were with a group of friends that we always have fun with so it was bound to be a good time. Not sure how quick I will be to reserve my next camp-site but I won't say never.

And just for the record I wore 3 of the 5 pair of shoes and 4 of the 5 pairs of pants I took...so there!

On the baking front....I've been busy baking and will only get busier as the Holidays get closer. I have some things I'd like to share so hopefully I'll get to it soon.

Sugar coated kisses.

xoxoxo

N.