“ahhhh, nature…” or “AHHH!! Nature!!”

Depends on your point of view, I guess.

Who: Us and all the aunts, uncles, cousins, grandparents on my mom’s side. And some other random people who we never really quite sure why they were with the rest of our family. Perhaps they are jealous of my family’s awesomeness.
What: Camping. Us (and my siblings) in tents. Everyone else in “campers”, aka “Recreational Vehicles,” aka “Houses on Wheels: Heck Yeah, You Can Take It With You!”
Where: Vermont. Specifically here. There is no link to the actual campground, since this location is located in a rare natural phenomena known as a “Technological Black Hole” in which no technology of any kind will work. At all.
When: Memorial Day Weekend. Great time to try and drive from Philly to Vermont, cause its not like anyone else will be on the roads that weekend.
Why: Still trying to figure that one out.

Highlights of the trip include:

• 7 hour drive to Vermont with my husband. We just talked the whole time – never even turned on the radio. I can’t remember the last time we were able to do that! Good conversation had, important future decisions made… definite bonding time!
• Seeing our kids after ten days! Them running up to us screaming our names, feeling their little arms around our necks… Gracie kept just hugging me and touching my face while saying, “My mama, my mama….” over and over. Heaven.
• Spending time with all the extended family, especially cousins who we rarely see. Its amazing that 15+ cousins can grow up and still like each other. Doesn’t happen too often.
• Watching our kids with their great-grandparents. Gracie falling asleep while cuddled up in Great Grandma’s arms by the campfire is one of those things I wished I could have taken a picture of, but didn’t because I was afraid to ruin the moment.
• Husband getting to play. He kayaked, hiked up Bald Mountain, jumped off a bridge and did all sorts of those crazy things he gets a kick out of doing. I think that trying to negate his life insurance policy is his hobby.
• Despite all my cracks about nature, it really was incredibly beautiful. Pictures to come.

Low points include:

• My brother and his girlfriend hit a deer on their way there. And by “hit,” I do not mean “grazed.” More like: “totaled their car, killing the heck out of that deer and scaring several years off their young lives.” They made it, though, 24 hours late and in a rental car. That’s dedication for you.
• The flea market. I know, you’re thinking “How quaint! A flea market in New England filled with antiques, homemade jam made out of organic blackberries!” No. It was actually “Scary looking people selling scary-looking junk to even scarier looking people.” Wow. I’d need pictures – I just can’t do it justice.
• Allergies. Merciful Heavens, the allergies.
• The huge thunderstorm/downpour the last night. I jumped so high after a particularly loud one, I believe that my entire body left the ground. “Jesus, is that you?” I thought. Wow. Camping in a tent certainly brings you close to nature. Whether you want to be or not.
• We left Monday at 10am. Seven short hours later we were screeching into Newark Airport to drop off Husband to catch his flight to Switzerland. There was a huGE accident and we were in traffic forEVER. Poor Husband. He was trying to be so calm, but I could tell he was totally freaking out. A four hour trip took 7 hours. He made it, though. Barely.
• After dropping Husband off, I realized I had no idea where I was going beyond “towards Pennsylvania”. Not knowing where you are going while trying to drive on a New Jersey highway is a scary thing. I had old people passing me, while honking and making hand gestures, as I went 10 over the speed limit in the slow lane. Jeez. I pulled into our driveway a mere 10 hours after we left Vermont.

Pictures will come. Husband took the camera with him. Apparently taking pictures of Switzerland is more important than my blog. Humph.

**Not to say that the trip was all bad or anything – we did have fun, too!