Four days of nothing but working and sleeping then two days of off-duty work leaving about a day to spend together as a family. It has been months since M1 has had more than one day at home( that "one day" really being two half days at different ends of the week). I have been looking forward to this week for so long. It has been a bright spot on the calendar. THREE solid days together as a family. So......we went camping. Do you know what it takes to pack a family of 10 for a three day camping trip? Let me shed a little light on that....

To gain as much time as possible with M1 the girls and I had everything packed and in the living room ready to load into the van and trailer. 10 backpacks, 10 fold up chairs, 9 sleeping bags, 9 camping pads, 3 army-sized duffels, 3 hard camp boxes, 3 open topped totes, 2 tents, 1 air mattress, 1 ice chest, 1 port-a-crib, 1 umbrella stroller, 1 portable highchair, 1 baby backpack carrier, 1 blow up baby pool, and lots of small sundry items.

Each older girl packed her bag and then "their child's" bag. They put them on the sofa and set out the outfit to wear in front of their bag. (This required washing all the dirty clothes the day before in a massive washing day....probably 10 loads of clothes).  I had a detailed list set out on the table and assigned different girls to retrieve items from the far corners and put it in the living room. I did the running around town...... like pick up the van from the auto repair, get a vehicle inspection sticker, drop off uniforms at cleaners, grocery shop, and help raise the stock for bug-juice and sunscreen companies.

When M1 woke up at 10:30 am the girls were practically sitting in the van waiting to leave. M1 hooked up the trailer to the van, we loaded everything in, EVERYONE WENT THE BATHROOM, and we were off........then it started to rain. It was a little sobering to see a lightning show in the sky as we were headed to our destination. I was hoping the tents were still water resistant and the wind didn't blow us into another state. M1, D1, D2, and I set up the tents in record time in the rain. We left everything else in the covered trailer and decided this was a good time to take advantage of our 1 meal out in the camping budget. Dressed in wind breakers, we all trooped into a local establishment not far from the state park. We got nervous glances from people as we entered....some even got up and left in a hurry. We got seated in the back. The girls have wonderful manners, though, and by the time we left people were coming up to us and complementing our kids behavior and the waitress was dumbfounded that they are ALL ours and "Heavens, no twins!"

We had a great time......lots of laughs, lots of time with Daddy, lots of sand. Of course, there is always some arguments, tiffs between sisters, the screaming 2 yr old who got sunscreen in her eyes and pooped in the public bathroom shower, and the child who left one tent unzipped at night and everyone in that tent was covered in mosquito bites the next morning. We don't get to stay in fancy places or go to museums or see tourist destinations, but we were together.......sharing our moments both good and bad, and that is the richness we give our girls.