My Eminence Journal

I kept a journal while we were on vacation, to help you get a true glimpse of what it's like to be on our camping trip. Overall it was a great vacation! Here are my notes:

Day 1--Friday the 29th--We offered to help bring one of my parents' canoes to Eminence. My parents took the other one. There were only 3 spongey things, so we ditched the third and used 2. Lisa tried to make a trip to Cabelo's to get a 4th, but they didn't carry them. We ran out of time so we had to make do. Big mistake. There was loud vibrating hum the whole trip to Eminence. It reverbrated in our chests! The kids were very good about it. We adjusted and shifted the canoe and respositioned the two spongies to no avail. We lived with it for the four hour trip. When we arrived, around 7pm, Uncle Kevin and Grandma and Grandpa greeted us. They offered to take the two little ones down to the rocky shores of the Jacks Fork river to throw rocks. We set up the trailer while they were gone. That evening, our friends, the Blair's, had a campfire. We roasted marshmallows and made s'mores. We were with many of our Men's and Women's group friends and some other church friends I know through my sister. Here's the line-up: The Clegg's (2 adults), the Basta's (2 adults, 3 kids, one on the way), the Vlahutin's (2 adults, 2 kids, one on the way), the Decker's (2 adults, 4 kids), the Blaire's (2 adults, 3 of their kids were present), the Essner's (2 adults, 3 kids), the Gulledge's (2 adults, 3 of their kids were present), my two brothers, my cousin and his wife and their toddler, and my parents. 38 people plus our family of 6!

Ted put Ben and Mary down at 9:45pm. They took 45 minutes to fall asleep. Sam and Abby stayed at the fire with me until 11:30pm!

Day 2--Saturday the 30th--Ben and Mary woke up at 6:40am. We went down to the river to throw rocks and ended up staying there until mid afternoon! We made a couple of trips back to the campsite for stuff needed like swimsuits, lunch, etc. I knew Ben was tired when he had a fit because he dropped a piece of chopped ham on the ground. He had a bigger fit when I told him not to worry about it and threw the ham chunk in the water for the fish to eat. Sam was literally in a panic with screams. It was so bad, Ted had to make a mock recovery of the ham chunk and brought it back to Ben. He then ate it and stopped crying immediately. I'll never figure him out. Not only that, I was grossed out that he ate a ham chunk from the river. Another panic fit came when his eyes started burning (sunscreen or sand...we'll never know). He was screaming. Ted was going to be taking my brother and cousin to drop off point for a float, so he took Ben with his to relieve all of us from his crabbiness. I immediately relaxed and happily watched Mary play while Sam and Abby played with their friends. Ben ended up falling asleep during the car trip. When Ted came back, he layed him down in the camper. Rain came around 2:30 or 3:00. It rained the rest of the day. For dinner we had hamburgers, mac n cheese and corn. The Masek's ate in our trailer because of the rain.

Mary crashed before dinner in my arms. I layed her on the wing. When she woke up around 6pm, she was screaming and tugging and digging in her ear. Oh no. Ted took her to the closest hospital (about 4o minutes away). They confirmed that it was an ear infection in her right ear. They gave her one dose, but then wrote a prescription for the rest. We had to figure out how to find a pharmacy late at night on a Saturday. And no one is open on Sunday out here. Ted ended up talking to the lady at the campground store and she said she could call her friend who is the local pharmacist to see if she would open up shop on Sunday for us. She called back late Saturday night to tell her she would do this. We didn't know until Sunday. Ted was prepared for a long drive if she said no.

While Ted was gone, the kids and I split up into different cars to go to the 7:30 mass with our group. We have many guitarists in the group. One guy called ahead to find out what the song schedule was and told them they would lead the music (the organist died 6 months ago). This is a very small church that was built mainly for the rush of vacationers they get this time of year. There are only 584 residents in Eminence. About 50 people were there, 3 were parishioners and 40 were connected to our camping group. I didn't help with the music because there were already 5 people up there (2 kids). Plus, I was without Ted. After the mass, the priest picked up one of the guitars and entertained us with some songs! He was great! We gave him a standing ovation.

Every year after mass, we always head out to the Dairy Shack for some ice cream. They are always overwhelmed by the crowd we bring. Ben entertained the troops with his rendition of the Toontown dance. It's a Disney computer game and it's the dance the character does when he beats the bad guy. I can only tell you it looks like Ben is having a seizure. I'll have to record it for you sometime. It's hilarious. It got cheers from the group.

It continued to rain all night. Mary had fallen asleep on her way home from the hospital. Ted went to the Blaire's pavilion since it was too wet for a fire, while I put the kids to bed this time. Sam was in bed by 10:20 and Ben finally fell asleep at 11:30pm. I guess Abby was in bed by 11pm.

Day 3--Sunday the 1st--This was a trying day. It rained all day until about 4pm. We entertained the kids in our trailer with a Spongebob DVD, and coloring pictures. Ted got Mary's medicine and she acted fine the rest of the trip. But we were sick of rain. By 2pm, I'd had enough. The kids wanted out of the trailer. Finally, we decided to ignore the rain, suit up the kids and take them to the beach anyway. Ted let me go shopping with Lisa, my Mom and our friend, Jackie, while he watched the kids at the beach. Shopping at Eminence was not that exciting, but it was getting out with the girls. When we got back, the rain finally let up after a full 24 hours!!! We had spaghetti for dinner with bread and butter. The fire was at the Blaire's again. It was Ted's turn to put the kids down. He hung out a little bit before they got tired. We played guitars and sang songs. It was fun for me to finally play! We decide that next year, I'll organize sing along songs like "Brown Eyed Girl", "American Pie, etc. I'll print out lyrics and chords for everyone. Get me on a mission and I can't stop thinking about it. Songs have been buzzin' through my head and when I tried to go to sleep that night...I was dreaming of campfire songs...

Day 4--Monday the 2nd--We woke up to sunshine! A beautiful day! Mom and Dad watched Ben and Mary while we took Sam and Abby on a six mile float. The river was high and swift from all of the rain. We made three stops to slow down our trip...one 40 minute swim stop, one 50 minute lunch stop, and a 30 minute swim stop. Two hours worth of stops and it only took us 4 hours to float! I think it was the best float I'd been on in a while. I love the hillsides of trees and bluffs and the rush of the river. I was in my limelight!! It was a comfortable day...not too hot. It was just all around perfect...and exactly what Ted and I needed. When we got back to the campground, Sam jumped off a bluff called "Button Rock" in his life jacket! He was so proud of himself because it was his first time. I remember jumping off that rock as a child. Now he is doing it.

For dinner we had pork steaks and mashed potatoes. To help us prepare for leaving tomorrow, we took down the awning, rolled up the astro turf and started cleaning up around the campsite. This time our fire was near the Clegg and Vlahutin campsites which were on the beach and much closer to our trailer. Mary fell asleep in my arms. Ben was ready for bed soon after. It was my turn to put the kids down. When I was tucking Ben in we were talking about why he can't have juice at bedtime, which got me explaining cavities and showing him my fillings with a glowstick. That was a mistake. The rest of the time he was asking me questions about cavities and telling me he was scared of them. It took him a while to fall asleep. This happened around 11pm.

Day 4--Tuesday the 3rd--Time to go! We were on the road by 11am. The canoe was still humming, but not as loud this time. One of the straps broke on the canoe, but luckily we had three, so could separate the two remaining straps. After this stop, the canoe stopped humming. Another thing we're trying to figure out! Hopefully getting 2 more foam pieces will keep this from happening again. We'll also make sure we have stronger straps!

We've logged 12,700 miles on our Jayco Kiwi Travel Trailer and taken 33 camping trips with it. It has been money well spent!