Desiree Kniker... Camping Extraordinaire?

I have so much to write about today- Ill admit, the thought of putting it all in writing is a bit intimidating... I have been thinking about it since I woke up this morning (huge dork, I know).

I believe when I last left all of you it was Thursday afternoon. In fact I know it was. So I will pick up from there:

I wrapped things up at work and headed home thinking I would be working at Massage Envy that evening- turns out, I was off the hook. I was scheduled to work with a girl that would be training me but as luck should have it, she was not working that evening and therefore, neither was I. Dont get me wrong, I was thrilled. I took a cat nap and got ready to head over to Derek's house where a group of us were gathering before our "traditional" 3rd of July night out on the town. I use the word traditional very loosely as last year was the first year we went. We had such a good time that we decided to make it an annual outing. After a few drinks with everyone, my friends from Dallas, Mitch and Levi, showed up and we called our cabs to get downtown and get the night started. Our time was divided between two very crowded bars and before we knew it, we were all on our way home again. All of us hung out on Derek's back porch and around 4, everything dwindled down and sleepiness sank in.

Friday was spent at my glorious, sun filled pool. We played water and sand volleyball, floated on noodles, ate, drank and put the final organizational necessities in place for camping that night. Everyone dispersed to take what would be our last showers for the weekend and planned to meet back up and make a grocery run on our way out of town. We reconvened at Wal-Mart and bought our supplies and then hit the road.

When we first entered the park at Pace Bend, we took our time driving around from spot to spot trying to find one with the most trees (for shade) and one that was close to a bathroom (for obvious reasons) and finally settled on the perfect spot. Setting up our tents and blowing up our air mattresses was fun and once we were all set up, we did a lot of sitting around and a lot of game playing. Around 5 AM we decided to pack it in and all headed to our tents for the night. I woke up around 8 on a half inflated mattress, with the sun blazing through our tent door. Needless to say I was a bit cranky but after a few minutes and a bottle of water, I was ready for a day of fun! Around noon and within a matter of ten minutes, many more people showed up- we ate, played card games, went down the hills and frolicked in the water, played horseshoes and baggo and of course oohed and aahd over Macey in her polka-dot swim suit. Saturday night didnt drag on nearly as long as Friday, I think the sun and fun had finally sunk in and we were all exhausted. Sunday, as soon as the sun came up- we all got up, packed up our tents and cleaned up the trash and got the heck out of there- all of us dreaming about showers and our air conditioned homes.

When I got home, I threw everything Id taken with me right into the washing machine and took a shower that may have registered in the 100 degree mark. I flossed my teeth for what felt like an hour and only then did I start to feel human again.

All in all, camping- as well as the whole weekend-was a LOT of fun, but I think it will be an entire year until Im ready to rough it again.