Good Girl

We got Zion as a puppy from a farm about eight and a half years ago. She had the most incredible red brown coat, violet eyes, and an incredible demeanor. When my husband proposed to me just a few weeks later, he tied the engagement ring to her collar and cued her come out and lay her head in my lap.

Zion never barked, never nipped, never left the yard...She was a good hunter and a good friend.

Earlier today we had to put Zion down. She had been sick for a few months with a disease called autoimmune hemolytic anemia. She was treated with a several rounds of heavy steroids and antibiotics, but in the end, her body couldn't take it and she was suffering. She will be missed.

Camping; It's like a vacation, but with manual labor

The manfriend and I took the kids camping this past weekend. That's right. All 3 kids in a tent. And I'm totally counting it as a vacation, which is pretty sad when you compare an actual, stay in a hotel-type vacation with camping. But guess, what? Camping is cheap. Let's take a look, shall we?

Hotel Vacation                                                   

• Sleep in a bed on sheets with a nice thread count that is magically remade by someone else every morning.
• Enjoy luxurious room service menus or free continental breakfast made by someone else.
• Poop in the privacy of your hotel room bathroom which is cleaned and magically restocked by someone else.
• Enjoy sandy beaches.

Camping Vacation

• Sleep on the ground in a body bag that your 5-year-old magically creeps into every night.
• Bring everything that everyone might possibly want to eat for 3 days and make it on a picnic table.
• Poop with 500 strangers in a semi-private bathroom that sometimes has toilet paper.
• Enjoy sand everywhere...on the beach, in your tent, in the baby's diaper, in the bag of shredded cheese.

I'm only (half) kidding. We went with about 10 other families who all had similar aged children. It was a blast, and the kids had a great time. Here is some photographic evidence:

Campfires

He thought being on a boat was akin to visiting the dentist.

We didn't catch any fish, but Thing 1 caught a nasty sunburn. That's what you get when you're a pasty white redhead.
Don't worry though, the burn has faded back to his natural alabaster skin tone.

The second that we walked on the campground the baby got diarrhea.
Here, she's going au natural to try to beat her diaper rash.

Locked up in baby jail.

Of course it rained, not just a shower but a torrential downpour that filled
fire pits. Luckily my manfriend dug a moat around our tent, so we were fine.
Do you see in the lower left corner a large bus like thing? Yeah, that's what our
neighbors were staying in.

Sunbathing

Pudgie pizzas are the best camping food. EVER.

There were some alternate titles I had for this post. I'd like to share them with you now.

• It's all fun and games until someone gets stung in the lady bits.
• Where's Chloe? (don't worry, she was found)
• Wait, the kids are doing the non-alcoholic Jell-o shots, right?
• If I were the neighbors, I'd totally hate us.