First Camping/Work Trip

With another weekend of work approaching I began whining to Jeremy about how much I really miss family time with him since work takes up 90% of our lives. We haven't had a free weekend in some time! As I sadly began thinking about trying to figure out a work trip to St. Charles, MO for a performance I considered the delightful options of, A) drive 18 total painful hours to and from the performance with a 1 1/2yrs old or B) getting someone to watch Augustine for the weekend for the umpteenth time this month. Neither option was appealing. That is where camping comes in...

We decided to do what we do best... go with the flow and make the best of it and make the trip a family camping trip. Although leading up to the trip was a bit chaotic as we prepped for the work aspect of the trip and being gone for 5 days we headed off Thursday morning, not sure what to expect.

We drove to a half way point campground "Palisades-Kepler National Park" and set up our tent, pack-n-play and scrounged up some firewood. Augustine was a real trooper and enjoyed exploring the various sticks and stones as well as the new play land in the tent. Once it was dark enough he went to bed like a dream.

The next day we packed up and headed to our final destination - St. Charles, MO. We stayed with wonderful hosts who took us out to dinner on Old Main Street. It was so lovely and reminded me of Boston and Door County mixed together with cobblestone streets and lots of beautiful shops and restaurants. The history in St. Charles is that this lovely city set on the river was where Louis and Clark set off on their adventure to discover West America. It really had a nice cozy quaint feel and I wish we had more time to explore.

We had our show of LOLEK for a medium sized crowd who gave a standing ovation and raved about the performance after the show. I will never tire of people coming up to me after the show saying, "That actor is SO talented!!!!" I smile and say, "Yes, he really is!" :-)

We went to mass the next day and then were campground bound.

Awake                                                                             Sleep

Play

We set up camp in the exact same spot as we were in before. (When you don't have a reservation and the spot is open - why mess with a good thing?) As drops of rain began to fall we pulled out our tent camping rain gear - the laptop and a movie. We watched "Up" in our cozy tent while the thunderstorm raged and it was magically wonderful. Augustine sat alert and wide awake after his bedtime while Jeremy and I relaxed and we all thoroughly enjoyed the movie. It was a really great pick and I highly recommend it if you haven't seen it yet.

I am so excited we finally got to go camping as a family and the trip overall went really well. It was relaxing and rejuvenating and a lot of fun! I'm already looking forward to when we will be able to camp again and take our second Summer work trip to one of my favorite places - Hollywood, CALIFORNIA!