CAMPING FUN.... or NOT!

The AWFUL, HORRIBLE, NO-GOOD, VERY-BAD, TRIP!

Do you ever start a trip just knowing that it's going to be bad? That anything and everything that can go wrong is going to? Well, this is how this trip started for me. 

I got off work late and was rushing the next day to get things done so we could go camping for the night. I felt extremely rushed and way under prepared. We literally hit the grocery store on our way out of town and just loaded up the trailer with food for the night and following day. 

Jay (Matthew's brother) was bringing his family with their motorhome and we all argued about where we even wanted to go for the weekend. I personally was hoping for Panguitch Lake or Bryce Canyon. Matthew was dead set on Kolob Lake, and Jay wanted to head South... somewhere warm to bask in the sun. I'm not exactly sure why, but Matthew and I agreed. Jay had picked out a perfect spot just South of St. George and right before the Gorge. We stopped and dropped the Trailer and immediately upon jumping out of the truck I knew it was going to SUCK! It was literally so hot. I'm talking desert heat in the middle of summer HOT! Jay is still excited and told the kids to hop in their swimming suits. We were going to head to the Virgin River for some fun in the sun. Nothing like some nice cool water to cool you off in the desert heat.

After driving on a tiny dirt road with 4 adults and 2 toddlers in the front of the truck and the other 9 kids piled in the back of the truck... we realized we had taken the wrong road. :( We turned back and finally GSP'ed the right dirt road and we on our way. The road was less of a road and more like off roading.... which I love... when we don't have 9 kids getting tossed around the back of the truck. Poor babies. No one was having a blast at this point. We finally reached a gulch that turned into a tiny, slim, canyon that we needed to go through to get to the river. We realized very quickly there was NO WAY the truck was going to fit and turned back once again. I was getting grumpier by the minute by this point... As were all the kids in the back of the truck.

As we were driving back Jay heard a small hissing noise coming from the tire. PERFECT!!! A Flat tire. We are out in the middle of no where with a flat. We reached the trailer and quickly got to work to slow air from coming out. Jay thankfully had some glue in his motorhome. It was old and really dried out, but that didn't deter Matthew one bit. He pulled out his pocket knife and got to work cleaning out the dried glue so he could use it. Well, the knife buckled and sliced open his finger. Bad, really bad!! In fact I knew immediately he was going to need stitches. Being a mom to 4 little boys I know exactly the distant in cuts that need staples, and stitches, and unfortunately his finger was definitely going to need some.

At this point, Matthew is holding his finger tight with a napkin while I am lying on my back in the dirt trying to pull off the spare tire so that I can drive him to the ER. Jay is handing me several different tools.... none of which actually work. At that point, I rolled out from under the truck and called Melanie. She is an absolute angel and rushed right over. Seriously, that was the very best part of my night. Jay and Natalie kept all the kids and started hot dogs, which apparently in my haste of grabbing groceries had grabbed the jalapeño dogs. Not a hit with the kids. Melanie and I visited for the next several hours while Matthew was getting stitched up. We didn't get back to the trailer until right after midnight. 

When we got back our cute little kids were all clunked out. I on the other hand had the hardest time ever falling asleep because it was so hot! We opened all the windows in the trailer, but because it was so late we chose not to turn on the generator to actually use the air conditioning. I must have eventually fallen asleep because I woke up in a cold sweat freaking out. Call it intuition or just being a mom, but I knew immediately that something was wrong. I turned to Matthew and asked him where Koda was and he said he had put her outside in the back of the truck because it was so hot and she was panting like crazy. It was quite a bit nicer outside temperature wise. I jumped up and told Matthew he needed to go check on her right now. He ran outside to see that she had tried to jump out of the truck, but because he had tied her up she was basically hanging herself. She barely had her feet on the ground. He got there just in time to unhook her and she was fine, but it scared me really bad and I'm not sure I ever went back to sleep fully. 

In the morning we called USAA again and had them send someone out to fix the tire. It was Sunday morning so I knew we wouldn't be able to have it fixed until Monday. I was so over this trip and really wanted to just head home as soon as we could. Unfortunately, it took hours for the tow truck to get there. They couldn't fix the tire so we had to call back USAA and get special permission for the tow truck to tow back the truck and the trailer. While we were waiting for the tow truck to head back with special stuff to tow us back the little kids all decided to head to the river on foot. WITHOUT ASKING OR TELLING ANYONE. 

They had about a 20 minute lead and we had 4 dirt roads to try to pick one for which way they had went. I tried to send Matthew with the tow truck and told him we could all ride back in the motorhome. I put on my tennis shoes, flipped a coin, and said a quick prayer that I was picking the right road and took off running with Jay, in his sandals, to find all the little kids. All I could think about was the little kids that have wondered off and never been found. I knew the boys had applied sunscreen, but was pretty certain none of them were smart enough to pack any water. We had filled up a large bottle for them to drink when we found them. They were about a mile away down in a gulch heading back to camp. I was so relieved to have found them that I left all the yelling to Jay. He explained how scared and worried we were and all the possibilities of what could have happened to them. We "watered" all the children and started the long trek back. Two of the kids had on flip flops, and one had on cowboy boots so I knew it was going to take us awhile. 

Thankfully, Matthew was way too worried to leave and he had recruited a nearby camper with a truck and met us about a half mile from camp. The 7 kids hopped in the back of the truck for a ride. We finally reached camp just in time for them to tell me that Koda had run away. I seriously almost started crying. I was so DONE with this STUPID trip. It took us another 10 minutes to locate the stinking dog and we were finally on our way home. Matthew and Hunter went with the tow truck and started about 15 minutes before we finally got out of there in the motorhome. EVERYONE in the motorhome was double buckled and dehydrated. 

We passed around water and gatorade and finally made it home. Jay dropped us off at our house. The tow truck wasn't there, but I just figured he was dropping the trailer at the storage place. Well, I didn't have any keys to get in. Which would make absolute sense since NOTHING had gone right with this trip yet. We all trudged to the backyard to wait for Matthew to finally make it home. Well, while I was waiting.... my stomach started CHURNING! Like bad.... like really bad. I knew I was in deep trouble. I ran to the car to look for anything that I could use to wipe. I found a napkin. One single napkin. I have never in my life been SO EXCITED over a single napkin. I debated kicking the kids out of the backyard and just blaming KODA for the poop I knew was coming. I debated just pooping in my pants. I was literally dying and I knew if I didn't come up with  plan in the next thirty seconds I was literally going to have to explain to Matthew why I was crying in the backyard with poop in my pants. I quickly pulled myself together and jumped over our wall. We happen to have a large field right behind us and I knew that was a better idea than having to blame the dog or kids. I crouched down and had the worst DIARRHEA in the world. My stomach was literally killing me by this point and I'm trying to hurry so that no one will see me. 

Here is where I guess I should apologize for the whole paragraph above, but this is a big part of why it was the WORST WEEKEND EVER!!!

Anyway, I pull myself together and very carefully use my single napkin as to not get anything nasty on my hand. I quickly pull up my pants my stomach feeling so much better already and hoist myself back up on top of the wall. It took everything to ever get back over and I look up to see Matthew coming out the back door with a huge grin on his face. The boys had already let him know exactly where I was and what I happened to be doing over the wall. They only knew because I had literally threatened to kill any child to peek over the wall. 

So, I was horribly embarrassed and his constant laughing and teasing DID NOT help me feel any better. So, that was last weekend. My very last weekend for awhile. I truly wish it had been much more fun. My work changed my schedule so I no longer have Saturdays off anymore... which is why we tried to force this fun camping trip without being fully prepared! Anyway, lesson learned! If things don't feel right from the start they may go horribly WRONG!

The trip had started off so peaceful with all the boys and even Koda napping on the way there! Who knew it was going to end up going to terribly bad?!?