Rough'n it!

One day, Jeremy came to me with an idea to buy a tent.  Now, let me tell you.  I am not much of a camper.  It's not that I hate it or anything, but I do love my blow dryer and other modern conveniences.  What girl doesn't, right?  Well, he sold me on it and we decided it would be fun to take the kids camping a few times a year.  The first place we decided to go was this KOA spot in the corner of Georgia and Tennessee near Chattanooga.  It wasn't totally without some modern conveniences.  Each site did have electricity and water.  Bathrooms and showers were available and it even came with a pool, playground, and a giant jumping pillow for the kids.  So, we packed the car, checked the list, of course, the kids had to check the list as well and we were off.  Now, I have to laugh.  We told the kids over and over not to forget certain things, including their pillows and wouldn't you know it.  After everything was set up, Jeremy and I discovered what we forgot was, our pillows.  Let's just say, I don't sleep well without my pillow.  Go figure.

After the tent was set up, air mattresses blown up, and bedding put into place, (except my pillow), the kids wanted to cool off by jumping in the pool.  Even Jeremy jumped in, which doesn't happen very often.  He is not much for swimming, but I am so proud of him.  Two days in a row he went swimming with us.  How cool is that.

Then it was dinner time.  What do you think we had.  Yep, hot dogs and smores.  Yum!  I will say, it was way fun.  I really haven't done that since I was a kid.  

I have to laugh at Megan.  She is funny.  She is definitely turning into a tween.  She spent a lot of time in the tent with her MP3 player on and drawing while the rest of us were outside.  Though Emilee did join her sometimes as they played their DS games together.  After the kids went to bed, Jeremy and I had a nice time talking and relaxing underneath the stars.  It was nice and quiet.  Like I said before, me and him forgot our pillows, so sleep was not good, but we survived and when morning came we were excited to get breakfast going.  Pancakes for the kids with bacon on the side and Jeremy made some breakfast sandwiches for himself.  I would have joined him with one of those sandwiches, but I think I ate too many pancakes.  

Now, when we went out on this little camping adventure, we had no idea what we would do the next day.  I think we thought we would hike, play around the camp site, relax, read.  Nope.  None of that happened.  Instead we decided to head to Chattanooga and go see Ruby Falls and Lookout Mountain.  Ruby Falls is a big waterfall that is in a cave in Lookout Mountain.  They say at the top of Lookout Mountain, you can see seven states when looking out at the top.  Hmm, who knew??  Now I have been in a lot of caves.  This particular cave was a bit pricey to go into, but I have to say, it had a lot of neat things to look at inside and the falls were quite amazing.  Very nice!  If you live around here and you want some place to take your visitors who come see you,  it could be a definite place to go.  Even my kids were impressed.

After the falls and lunch, we took the kids to the children's museum in Chattanooga.  That is always a kid pleaser.  

 After we left the museum, we went back to the camp site, swam, roasted, and played all night.  As soon as the kids went to bed, I enjoyed the silence once again.  I think I slept that night, but let me tell ya, after breakfast the next morning we went back home and I took a long nap.  I think I could get use to this camping thing.  We are interested in going to a KOA in the Smokies next.  I'm not sure when, but when we do, it will be  an adventure, I'm sure.