Happy Camper

Soooo... just got back from a thrilling camping adventure. I have to say, I am not much of a camping gal. I'm sure everyone knows, I'm what some might call, "picky," so camping with dirt and gross stuff usually doesn't suit me. Okay, okay, it wasn't that bad. It actually could have been a lot worse. Our tent was very very bug proof (meaning that it was sealed really well so spiders couldn't get in), which was good because we may have been underneath a spider nest or something, as they were covering the tent. But they were on the outside, not on the inside, so all was well. It was actually kind of interesting to look up through the little screen in the roof and see them climbing on the ceiling. As long as the spiders were outside the tent, I was, for lack of a better term, a happy camper.

But that wasn't all.... We were camping by Pike Lake (and this is where Maya goes omigosh! I know that place... there's a little beach with lots of trails and a tower... :D) and apparently Pikian Lake territory is very very hilly. ALL HILLS! Which is very sad when you are a less-than-athletic-or-even-physically-fit-person and you are forced to walk up and down the hills at a pace slightly faster than you would like, because somehow your fellow cousins are finding the energy to RUN, like SPRINT down the trail ahead of you, and you will get lost without them. Fortunately, Mikayla was having about as much trouble as I was, and she works out far more often than I do, so that made me feel a little less out of shape (sorry, Mikayla, but it's true!! i love you....) Not to mention that the aforementioned beach, which was actually slightly pathetic, was about 30-45 minutes away from the campsite, and pretty much all up and down very very steep hills. woo hoo.

The other thing that was a major highlight for this trip was the campfire. My mom sent my brother and little cousin off into the woods to get kindling, and she misjudged how much energy they had, and they brought back enough kindling for two more days than we were actually staying at the campsite. This was great... ish. They got all the kindling off of the ground, which meant it was all a) green or b) damp. This made it really really hard to start a fire, and I spent about 2 1/2 hours trying to get the stupid thing going. I actually ended up having to go find a old dead tree to get some decent kindling, and it was a very complicated process. I had to gather all the things I needed ahead of time, and then set some crumpled paper on fire, and then add a pile of dead dry leaves, and then break up tiny pieces of kindling and put that on the fire and then take smaller dry sticks and put that on, and keep getting bigger and bigger until I could put the big logs that would last a while. Whatever. I'm sure you absolutely needed to know that.... :/

I felt like absolute crap on a plate the last day, since I hadn't showered in an amount of time any human being should not be required to not shower (tmi, kira) and my hair was greasy, and I smelled like smoke. I seriously felt like a hippie or something, since I was wearing flip flops, baggy sweat pants and a gigantic men's plaid shirt covered with paint that my mom stole from my grandpa. That's what Kira is like in her natural state... everything is baggy and old and plaid... hehe... But seriously, if I didn't have to dress in a socially acceptable way, I would wear huge men's flannel shirts, (my dog is being a butt and shoving her face under my hand while I type) very very baggy capris and no shoes all the time. But, unfortunately, I'm not allowed to do that. :( Anyways, I was feeling very yucky, and standing in the women's bathroom putting my hair up into something that would feel a little more comfortable than having it plastered to my head, and I was listening to a conversation these little girls were having while seated on the toilet (that sounds creeperish. it wasn't, i promise...) and they were arguing about who would get done relieving herself first. Then, out of the blue, one of the girls blurted out "The lady out there looks really pretty!" I was like, okay... apparently huge dirty flannel shirts and greasy hair are attractive now.... (one other thing: am i the only one who finds it really really weird when people call me ma'am or miss or lady or something? like, it really freaks me out! i'm not old yet!!) Soo... maybe I should start wearing men's shirts now??? Let me know... haha... (just an fyi, my dog made this soo hard to type!! stupid fireworks....)