Camping!

I went camping with Chris and a group of our friends this weekend. We stayed right off of the Guadalupe River. It was beautiful. The weather was beautiful. The company was (smelly and) beautiful. But camping is not made for pregnant women. However, there are ways to make it better, and I will remember this next time we plan a trip. Here is some advice for any pregnant women willing to bear the heat of the day, cold of the night, bugs, spiders, dirt and showerless weekends:

1. Bring an air mattress! Chris brought every blanket we owned to make the ground a little softer for me and I used 3 pillows, but I still felt like I was lying on the ground, and I swear my hips got bruised from trying to sleep on my side.

2. Bring earplugs! Most people like to drink when they go camping. Drunk people think they can sing, and will play the guitar and have group sing alongs until 3am even when the park's quiet hours begin at midnight. (note: the group I went with was wonderful to camp with, it was the neighbors that kept me up)

3. Make sure you get a spot close to the bathroom. It's cold and dark and scary walking across the park to pee at 4am.

4. Bring more food than you think is necessary. Campers/boyfriends will eat anything after pregnant women go to sleep.

5. Plan on getting home early enough to do laundry before you go to bed, otherwise you'll be sleeping with no blankets because every blanket you brought to the campsite now smell like campfire.

That being said, I did have a good time. We arrived kind of late on Friday night and I tried my best to go to sleep, but those damn neighbors insisted on singing Jimmy Buffett into the wee hours of the night. I woke up before the sun on Saturday, but managed to get in a good nap around 10 when everyone was up and eating breakfast. I really wanted to go swimming, but the water was a little too cold and the weather wasn't quite warm enough to justify jumping in. Next time it should be warmer and I plan on spending the entire weekend floating in a tube.

We did some trout fishing, and I think everyone except Marissa caught a fish (sorry Marissa, better luck next time!). Mine might not count because after I reeled it in, it jumped right off the hook. We ended up catching 6 keepers and everyone grilled them later Saturday night. They were a lot bigger than I expected, and I forgot how much fun fishing is when people are actually catching something! I want to go again this weekend. Just fishing, not camping. :)

I left Saturday afternoon to make it to Trianna's baby shower in Austin. I couldn't stay long because I wanted to get back to the campsite before it was too late, and I didn't feel like making the hour long drive back in the dark. I wish the day was longer, because I wanted to spend more time at the shower! It was so great seeing everyone from Rudy's, and it was awesome to see Trianna looking so great at 7 months! I hope I'm looking and feeling that good by then. I got some good ideas from the Tri's shower, Krista and Marissa for my shower in July. By the time it gets here, Trianna will have a little girl to bring along with her! How exciting, I can't wait.

I slept much better on Saturday night (but would have slept better still with an air mattress) and packed up to leave on Sunday morning. We spent Sunday afternoon with Sam, Cindy, Lisa and Jacob. Cindy made an awesome Sunday dinner, then I sat on the couch for a good 4 hours before we headed back home to do the laundry that I should have done earlier.

Some pictures from the weekend: