Sunday, July 28, 2013

One last hoo-rah!

Do you vacation?  Do you prefer staycations to road trips?  Do you love to travel or hate the hassle?

We love to travel.  We love the thrill of the open road and we my husband loves to fly.  We love all kinds of locations: beaches, mountains, cities, small towns, back country roads.  We love a mini-vacation weekend away, a one-week trip, and last year, we traveled for two-weeks straight.  Two. Weeks.  In the car with two kids.  Two. Weeks.  But we had the time of our lives!

We can't always budget for trips like last year's tour, but we do try to work in a little fun here and there.  This year, we are purposefully slowing down.  We are feeling the stress and pull of business ownership, the anxiety of having a teen-ager at home (how did THAT happen?) and back-to-school is lurking around the next corner waiting to jump out and surprise the daylights out of me.  

So before life throws us back in the ring for another round, we are getting out of town for one last summer hoo-rah!  In a moment of weakness, I agreed to a week-long camping vacation.  Camping. No, really!

We found a campground about an hour from home with a fishing lake, an in-ground pool, fun evening activities like games, bingo, outdoor movies, karaoke...  Within an hour of the campground is a large amusement/water park (voted best in the country, thank you very much), canoeing, outlet shopping, a HUGE children's museum... and cabins.  Yes!  With electricity! And Coffee makers!   We're roughin' it this time, folks.

It's budget-friendly, too!
Tent camping sites are $12.00 - $15.00. 
Sites with electricity and water are $15.00 - $18.00. 
Pull-through camper sites are $20.00 - $22.00.  

Cabins, of which there are only three, all lake-side, are $28.00 - $30 per night.  They have one twin and 2 bunks, or one queen bed and 2 bunks, or one king bed.  For $30.00 a night, people.  

This includes air conditioning, electricity, coffee maker, mini fridge, microwave, charcoal grill, campfire ring, picnic table, and the lake... the lake!  Right off the end of your private deck!  Awesome!  Yes, you still get to cook on the open fire or grill.  You still get to sit in the peace and quiet of the evening.  You still get the experience of camping - only minus the tent!  It's a happy medium between "camping" and paying $120 a night for a less-than-clean hotel.  You still bring your own sleeping bags.  You still have a camp fire.  No phones, no lights, no motorcar.  (Ok, fine, so we have lights...)

The best part is we are going to be out in nature.  Camping! Fishing!  Paddle-boating! Canoeing! Swimming!  

No iPods!  No TV!  No telephones ringing!  No laptop!  Just the sweet sounds of birds and bats, cows mooing happily from across the lake... and an occasional dive-bombing mosquito.  

We are ready!  We need to decompress and de-stress.  We need to unplug from the matrix and get off the grid. 

When we get back from vacation we will have about two weeks before school starts.  Get ready!  I have lots of good posts ready for you!  My summer hiatus is quickly coming to an end. A screeching halt is more like it.

I've loved my blog-free summer.  I've loved everything I've learned from taking the Mom Challenge.  I've loved every. single. moment. with my kids.


And I can't wait to share more with you, again.

Only By His Grace,

Billie  

Sunday, July 21, 2013

Celebrating the small things...

Summer is in full swing...and sadly, I can see the start of school just around the corner :( 

In fact, we are doing our school supplies shopping tomorrow.  Last week I hemmed uniforms, treated stains and mended busted zippers.  I'm one of those moms that gets every single day's worth of wear out of those uniforms. Every. Single. Day!  


I'm still taking the mom challenge - this week I'm focusing on celebrating the little successes.  Are there really any little successes?  Isn't every success a big deal?  Well it should be!  Here's the goal for the week:  Find something your child does that makes you proud, and celebrate it.

Maybe we'll go out for ice cream.  Maybe we'll take advantage of two-fer Tuesday at Lazer tag, or maybe a movie night.  I don't know what it will be, but this summer, as I've taken a break from mopping and dusting and cleaning the refrigerator coils with a Q-tip (...I'm kidding) I've found more and more about my kids that I am so very proud of.

This week...I'll be celebrating with my kiddos.  I can't wait to see what all they can do....

Only By His Grace,

Billie