Hi, it's me.

A week since my last post...but since my first sentence mentioned a break with the kiddies that would explain the absence.   I am sure you have been on pins and needles waiting for the next post.  Have no fear!  Or maybe you should be afraid....
I have nothing exciting to say...which isn't entirely true, I just am so worn out I am not sure that my fingers will be able to type long enough to finish a sentence.  Though that would not be much of a deviation from the norm...skinnyway.   We did venture on over to a campground this week (hence my extra exhaustion).  And venture it was...first off at first glance of the weather last week we knew that rain was a potential issue.  As it grew closer and closer and the chances of rain only continued to grow and we debated about what to do.  First off a couple years ago we made a big to-do about going on a camping trip...we packed and planned and it rained so we didn't go.  Then Jakeb did the boy scout thing for a portion of a year and there was a family camping trip and we did go--and it rained and it was cold and it was no fun.  Like really, really no fun.  Side note to add a special thanks to the person whose tent we got stuck next to on that trip--you made my night miserable with your snoring...not that I am still bitter or anything.   So with the warmer weather and the battle with the rain that seems to be ever persistent in ruining our camping trips we decided to just buck up and go for it.   We snagged a new tent boasting it's water resistant abilities packed extra clothes and towels just in case and headed for the hills.  Unicoi State Park to be exact.   We got everything set up and the boys were ecstatic just to be there and holy guacomole we.are.in.a.tent.with.air.mattreses to jump on.  Because duh, *I* am so not sleeping on the ground.  What the how? No way.  We did the hot dogs on the camp fire thing and may or may not have had to go to the store twice for supplies we forgot...hot dogs with out ketchup? Absoflippinlutely not.  (no fear that wasn't the only reason for the extra trip to the ole' Dollar General) Right moving on...we hit the hay whenever we felt it was a reasonable time.  I am not exactly sure what time it was because as a personal challenge to myself I left the phone ie time telling device in the car.  This was a more difficult thing for me than I expected because well A) I really really like to know what time it is at all times when I wake up in the middle of the night and B) I woke up in the middle of the night 7343223 times and didn't know what time it was and how much longer we had to go before morning.  Right, right...so the rain.  Yeah it wasn't very nice...as in it rained all.night.long. And took turns being torrential and down pouring...waterproof tent?  Well it tried and it did ok but the box should say "water proof unless it rains all night long really hard".  Really it did ok...we had a few wet spots.  And really none were on me so in my book it held up pretty well!  The next morning there was plans to make pancakes and eggs on the grill...you know to further broaden my culinary skills...and who are we kidding just so I could say I cooked pancakes and eggs over a campfire.  But the puddle in the middle of the fire pit said no way and to head to Huddle House.  So of course that is what we did!  Who are we to disobey mother nature!?  Then we decided to go for it for another night because according to The Weather Channel there was only a 20% chance of rain for night number 2.  Because 20% usually means 0%.  So we headed further into the hills for some hopefully dry'ish site seeing.   We hit up Anna Ruby Falls and Brasstown Bald both very cool places.  Both with very steep inclines to the top...but I made it and I did it.  Brasstown Bald was definitely a cool one...check it out if you are ever in the area!
Night #2 we slapped chili together over the campfire.  Let's say that again...we made chili over the campfire.  It was good and it was like with real meat and everything.  High fives all around.  We did the 'smores thing (I may or may not be snacking on leftover chocolate as I type) and climbed into bed eager for a dry night.  Of course this night 20% turned into 100% and this time included thunder.  But we planned ahead and stayed dry and the tent that didn't hold before held--because there was much less rain.  The boys managed to sleep right thru the loud thunder but the rain held on thru the morning and we packed it up and headed home without pancakes and eggs on the campfire.  Instead we had lucky charms in the rain and it was still cool.   Overall it really was a good trip.  It wasn't too cold and despite the rain we all slept ok--thank you air filled beds for making us more comfy.  The boys had a blast and ran around the woods playing with cap guns from the ole DG store making racket because basically we had the campground to ourself because people don't plan to camp in the rain.  So that was fun for them--hello they have never even seen a cap gun much less play with one while camping!  Good times.  And the campsites at Unicoi were nice...definitely will go back and definitely might even do it in the rain but probably we will try for you know dry weather.