Pickles & Dimes

Jason will sometimes hassle me for not updating this site as often as I used to, and I usually respond with gritted teeth and a steely, “I worked all day without a break on a 1,000-page RFP (true story), and my “lunch” was spent on the phone being transferred five times by barely-English-speaking people who work for our mortgage company (also a true story). I do not have the time.” And then he’ll tell me to quit being a whiner.

And then I’ll want to punch him in the ear.

ANYway, I just haven’t really felt like updating because I’m busy and nothing exciting has happened. It’s the same old-same old, only now I’m so stressed out/exhausted I fall asleep on the couch by 8:30 pm instead of 9:00.

But then, this happened:

Jason’s parents bought us a popup camper!

How awesome is that?

They bought themselves a used popup camper last summer. We borrowed it once last month and it was great. We told them someday we would love to get a popup camper like theirs for ourselves, after Jason gets a new job and we can afford it, something old and cheap but in decent shape, etc., etc.

So they’ve been keeping their eyes open for a popup for us and since they live in a small town where things cost 1/3 the price of things in the Twin Cities, they found a great deal. And then they presented it to us with a giant bow on it and said, “Here’s your birthday and Christmas present for the next few years.”

We couldn’t believe it. Becky, Jason’s mom, said, “We want to enjoy seeing you enjoy things rather than giving you money after we’re dead.”

It’s in fantastic shape, used maybe a dozen times in the past 11 years. It has a queen-sized bed on one side, a fridge and a microwave. A microwave! We are going to LOVE camping in it. Hopefully none of our friends have any weekend summer plans for us next year, because we are going to be unavailable.

To say we are excited and overwhelmed and filled with gratitude and hope and happiness at a time where nothing seems to be going our way would be an understatement.

Thank you so much, Bobby and Becky. You’re the best. We love you.

We took our last camping trip for the year to St. Croix Falls, the same campground where Jason proposed to me three years ago, and where we’ve been forced to leave early twice, once due to a tornado and once because we were tired of being rained on in our leaky tent.

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We went camping with 10 other adults and 15 children. The socialization aspect was wonderful for Shorty, who behaved like a champ. He deserves some kind of special Snausage/Beggin Strip/Rawhide Bone of Saintlyhood for his behavior. I don’t think he napped at all during the day, what with all the hugging and ear tugging and tail straightening and muddy-hand petting and Matchbox car driving that was done to him. On the plus side, he slept like a log all night. Also? The weather was perfect.

Welcome! I wish there would’ve been other signs along the way, such as ones that would have alerted us to the fact that a narrow gravel path was actually the correct road. Oh well. The 2 miles we had to backtrack were very scenic.

Thou shall fill water-laden latex receptacles and catapult them across the land to vanquish your enemies! (this was the water balloon-launching station)

Hmmm…OK, Robin Hood. Your medieval transportation seems a bit technologically advanced, don’t you think?

Oh, come on! Like Robin Hood had to deal with roving bike gangs and trampoline-bouncing basketball thugs. Whatever. Or maybe he did, and that’s why moats were invented. Yes.

Mini golf! I picture knights trying to peer through their armor eyeholes to sink a putt. Hee!

An unfortunate side effect of tent camping: every sound is amplified and you are physically unable to sleep in. Harumph. The plus side: shots like this of the steam rising from the pool early in the morning.

Oh hai, were you scared by this? Yeah, well, that’s just Dolly Woodboy, who accompanies Jason’s brother on camping trips to frighten young children and adults who’ve seen too many Chucky movies. Here’s Dolly casually posed on a friend’s camper toilet, much to her horror and dismay, and everyone else’s raucous amusement.

This year, Jason’s parents upped the ante at their annual camp out. They had an omelet bar, karaoke, a bounce house and an inflatable water slide for the kids. The weather cooperated (we stayed in their pop-up vs. our tent, which was heavenly) and their backyard was full of ruby-throated hummingbirds, melodic windchimes, grossly overweight squirrels, indigo buntings, and of course, the lunatic cardinal, who scared the pants off me when I used the spare bedroom to change and he lunged headfirst into the window, eyes wild and feathers ruffled.

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