Rain Splattered Camping

It's that time of year again, intoxicating, rain splattered nights, lightly toasted noon day cheeks, warm cotton filled breezes and CAMPING!!!

 

 

We started our camping season on the right foot with the second annual Downata Hot Springs exploit.

It was little Ever's first camping trip. Safe to say she had a good time.

 

 

It's still a little early in the camping season which made for cold nights. We managed. We went to bed bundled up and cuddled close

 

 

 and woke up each morning with red noses and smiling faces.

We had all kinds of excitement. Days filled full, full of swimming

 

 

 

and crazy hair dos

 

 

Days full of soggy nature hikes,

 

 

and bug collecting.

 

 

  Not just any old bug collecting adventure. We were lucky enough to have a fearless Grammy, who pointed out all the best places to find critters and treasures.

 

 

We had bug boxes that apparently doubled as binoculars

 

 

and bug boxes full of real mice or maybe just one little, fuzzy mouse.

 

(What a cute little mouse, don't worry we put him back)

 

Days full of cousins

 

 

and nights full of campfires

 

 

to roast marshmallows over

 

 

and rain lots and lots of thundering, tent flooding rain. The rain made for a beautiful morning. I, of course had to go to the bathroom at 4:00 am. It was freezing. At least the pounding rain had stopped. I unzipped the tent and stepped out into this

 

 

I ran to the bathroom and then grabbed my camera. I couldn't resist. Even at 4 in the morning the quiet, breathtaking beauty was too much for my wandering soul. I had to be awake and walk through this beautiful valley

 

 

This was just the first of hopefully many more camping trips of the season.

 

 

 

 

 

 





32 and Counting

32. What? When did this happen? 32, you heard me right people, 32. No worries, it's cool. I'm not too worried about it. I can face that number in the mirror. The reflection that stares at me doesn't feel 32 although the semblance has a few more wrinkles than I remember.

 

I forget sometimes that I'm not that slightly wild, free spirited 18 year old any more. I'm much more grounded...sure, grounded, we'll go with it.

 

For my birthday Chris surprised me with Ellie Goulding tickets. The concert was golden. She sounded so good live. That night my slightly wild, free spirit collided with my mildly grounded, mom of 2 persona.

 

We got to the concert and first thing headed up the stairs to get a good, less crowded spot to relax and let our ears take in the vocal stylings of the blonde songstress .

 

Watching the youngsters below it became very clear I was no longer that 18 year old.

 As I watched those crazy kids, the salt flavored nastalga hit me hard. I remember the excitement of my first concert. It happen to be at that exact venue, the Saltaire.

I was doing extremely well keeping that free spirit in check. And then Ellie Goulding stepped on the stage. Her voice, like a siren's song, calling my inner teenager.

 

And suddenly, there I was pushing my way through sweaty, tightly packed bodies. My kind, supportive, strapping hubs following that slightly wild 18 year old me.

 

The number attached to this body may read 32, securely grounded wife, and mother of 2. But the fine print definitely reads with a heaping serving of free spirited spunkiness.