It's That Time of Year Again: Summer Hall Pass

It's that time of year, the time when I have been handed my summer hall pass. Yippee yahoo! Although King Ralph likes to call my summer hall pass the "lean weeks of summer"...I like to rejoice in every non-paid day my summer hall pass gives to me.  I need the time more than ever to regroup!  Emerging teens and new teens have a distinct scent about them--body and attitude.  When it's your own teen you can glare at them extra evil and wave a fist in the air showing you mean business, throw down the book, take away cell phones, car, allowance.  When it's not your kid you just...well you just show them the way to the principal's office. And. That. Is. Taxing!

I love you summer hall pass.  I love you very much!

So what have I done since I got my summer hall pass last Thursday?  I went camping. We went camping, as a family, minus M, at Hawn State Park.

King Ralph and I (and Uli) got there ahead of Princess A and D, because they had to work late.  How can a kid complain when they arrive to a set-up camp?  Anyway I planned on King Ralph and I relaxing eating snacks for dinner and sipping cocktails under an umbrella of whispering pines.  It happened to become one of the best laughs we had all weekend, and constantly all weekend.  "Your mother fed me chips for dinner" became the cause of every rumble King Ralph's stomach made--for three days.  Three days of [unacceptable] dinner catch up.  Never mind there were hearty dips to accompany his pita chips and veggies.  By his moaning you'd think he was in a refugee camp with nothing to eat. 

He woke on Friday morning proclaiming his hunger and the cause..."your mother fed me chips for dinner."  So I fed him.

After a carb filled breakfast of  blueberry and sausage pancakes with a side of bacon, we set out for a six mile hike on the Whispering Pine Trail.  The trail takes you up on the bluffs over looking Pickle Creek and then down along Pickle Creek.  We took our time on the hike soaking in natures beauty, playing in the creek and eating lunch while resting on a boulder among the whispering pines.  The weather was perfect!

When we returned from our hike we all showered and checked for ticks.  King Ralph always wins the tick magnet trophy.  Then we made a camp fire, played washers while sipping beers and sangria, listening to classic rock, and made s'mores.  And not just any ole' s'more but these

   We opted for the nutty buddy and salted caramel.  The classic s'more was...so yesterday.

On Saturday we woke to a beautiful sky that later opened to a nice rain.  Invitation to nap for some

and for me--start my first book of the summer.  While other campers acted as if the sky was falling, packed up and headed out, leaving us a near empty campground as our playground.  Those fools missed out on what turned into a gorgeous day and evening.

Once the rain stopped and the sky cleared we headed out to a winery.  We have never been to the wineries in St. Genevieve, although the map the campground provided seemed simple enough, King Ralph said use of the GPS. WHY?!  WHY THE DAMN GPS?!  THE MAP WAS PERFECTLY CLEAR IN DIRECTION!  GPSs can be your friend or your enemy.  On Saturday it was clearly our ENEMY!  Source of laugh number two for the weekend as shown in the picture

Yes, we ended up on a dirt country road surrounded by cattle while the GPS that led us to that place kept saying "rerouting."  Really?! &%^*@^!

Once we managed to get ourselves back on the path of right direction we relaxed on the lawn of the Charleville Vineyards Winery and Microbrewery with King Ralph's cousin, wife and son.

The seven of us headed back to the campground to play washers, make a campfire (again)

and grill.  MEAT. A LOT OF MEAT!

Sunday rolled around, Uli and I took one last early morning walk around the campground.

Then it was time to pack up and head home.

Till our next adventure....