Instead of scrapbooking or getting caught up with email, I went camping with Scott and the kids in central Oregon.  This was my maiden voyage in the pop-up camper and it just reconfirmed my thoughts on camping — not my favorite thing.

Of course our usual travel luck found us. 

Originally we were going to camp at the coast but the weather changed last week from the gorgeous Oregon summers to the slow and stead beginning of  the rainy season and rain was forecasted for the beach.  At the last minute we decided to go to the Bend area instead as it was supposed to be nice. 

Wrong.  As we were setting up the camper on Friday the rain began and held steady until mid-morning. So much for escaping it.

At about 3 am the battery in the camper ran out and decided we needed to be notified by a loud persistant beeping.  Oh, and the rest of the campground as well!  Scott went out to try to stop it and then decided he should charge the battery with the car.  Only, there were no keys to be found.  We searched for about 15 minutes before falling back into bed with no keys. 

In the morning Scott got up to make his coffee and woke the kids up.   I let them get up as Scott said it was 8am.  Nope, the battery in his watch was dying and it was only a little after 6.  Grrrr…

We started looking for the keys again.  We searched for almost 30 minutes tearing the camper apart, pulling everything out of every bag and search everywhere we could think of.  No luck.  We were really starting to panic as we only have one set of keys for the car. 

But then finally, out of desperation, I went to see if maybe we had locked them in the car.  And it was then that I spied the keys next to the battery case on the camper!  Scott must have been so tired when he first went out that he forgot he had taken the keys with him!  Mystery solved.

There were definitely good parts to our trip — having solid uninterrupted time with Scott and the kids,  getting out of our box for a weekend, hiking, and seeing something different. 

Eating Jiffy Pop

Enjoying a moment on the trail (and ignoring the destruction from a recent forest fire).

Watching the kids commune with nature

But, I’ve come to the conclusion, I’m not a camping fan.  I don’t quite get all the effort to make life rough and dirty for a few days.  Once upon a time (my neighbor pointed out that this was before we married) I went with Scott on a 3 wk camping trip through Wyoming, Montana and the Canadian Rockies.  Most of that time we were doing some major back country camping.  I think I get backcountry camping more than camping in a campground — if you are going to rough it, then you should really rough it.  Even so, I don’t think I’ll be doing any back country camping anytime soon.  I think for now I prefer scrapbooking to getting back to nature.

Last night Ali asked me to go with her to a book signing at Scrapbook Fever in Salem.   If I were ever to open a scrapbook store I would want it to be just like Scrapbook Fever — a great selection to cater to everyone, an incredibly helpful and fun staff, and a joyful atmosphere that is at the heart of the store.  Shelly, the owner, is just an amazing person!  I haven’t had a chance to see her in months so it was great to have an excuse to get up there.  We had a very fun evening, did lots of catching up and ate a bit too much yummy carrot cake!

And if you have a second, please send Shelly some happy thoughts, her 8 month old grandbaby was born with quite a few challenges and now it seems that she might have an issue with her heart as well.  They were off to see a pediatric cardiologist today so hopefully the news was better than expected. 

And if you haven’t had a chance to see the October kit, here it is!

Patterned Papers
MAMBI White Feather Scroll
Heidi Grace Black & White Floral Shimmer Glitter
Heidi Swapp Runway Droplets (12″ x 15″)
KI Memories Pop Culture Heiress
MAMBI Sanctuary Awaken
Scenic Route Hampton Turner St
Luxe Simple Ledger Lime
Luxe Vintage Frames
KI Memories Bloom Flutter Sublime Lace Cardstock
American Crafts Amplified SKA
Hambly Twigs & Weeds Overlay Lime

Cardstock
Bazzill White - Mini Scallop
Bazzill Black Tie Bling
Bazzill Black Beetle
Bazzill Green Tea

Embellishments
American Crafts Thicker Daiquiri — Black
Waste Not Paper Chartreuse/Black Tags
Creative Lifestyles Scalloped Mini Book Lime
Kaiser Ebony & Ivory Brads (5)
Luxe Luxe-urious Labels — Lime
Heidi Swapp Rounded Kiwi Floral
Prima Stamp– Ornate Frame

Ribbons
American Crafts McKeown Felt Ricrac Lime
Maya Road Flower Damask Sheer Ribbon
White Velvet Ribbon

Our longtime babysitter is moving to Tuscon tomorrow to be near her fiance.  We are all going to miss her so much!  She moved in next door the day Alice was born and was Alice’s first babysitter.  It’s going to be so sad to not have her around anymore.

Thank you so much for everything Kelcey and good luck!  We’re looking forward to seeing you at Christmas!

Apparently perfection does not exist in my vocabulary (probably rather evident in my blogging lack of perfection as of late…).  Today was Jack’s first day of school and I wanted everything thing to go perfectly.  It did not.

It all started to not go perfectly last night.  We had gone up to Portland yesterday to go to Ikea and hit the mall (I’m so excited about the playroom transformation that was our primary reason for the trip– hopefully I’ll have a reveal up by next week!).  My plan was to be home by 6 so I could have Jack in bed at 8.  We got home at 8:45.

OK, so he got to bed a bit late.  It wasn’t that big a deal.  I quickly laid out his clothes for the morning — the jeans I had wanted him to wear weren’t clean but another pair would be fine — and got him into bed.  It would all be fine.

This morning, after Jack got dressed, Scott got him breakfast and told me he was ready to go.  I finished getting Ali ready and rushed downstairs.  We headed to the car 8 minutes later than I’d planned.  Not a big deal, it would all be fine.  It was only after we got to the school (late enough that we had couldn’t park in the school parking lot) that I realized that Jack’s jeans had a hole in the knee, the sweatshirt his dad had gotten out for him to put over his outfit was covered in gunk, the tag wasn’t off the backpack (the kind that’s impossible to tear off), Scott hadn’t brushed his hair, his glasses were filthy, I had forgotten to take photos in front of the house and we were now 5 minutes late instead of 10 minutes early.  Hmmm… not exactly how I had foreseen the morning going…

There was no perfection to be had on the first day of school.  Instead of my nice tidy child, I dropped off a little ragamuffin.  But, despite the torn pants, grungy sweatshirt, messy hair, filthy glasses etc, I still think he looked pretty darn cute on his first day and, more importantly, he LOVED it!!! Maybe that’s where perfection lies…

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