Earning My Pregnant Camper Badge.

I'll admit that I have been a bit of skeptic when it came to camping. I don't know if I blame that on the fact that as a kid we never did the camping thing or if I find camping at campgrounds a bit lame...I don't know exactly! Because don't get me wrong, I enjoy nature (with the exception of birds) & being a part of it. But, notice I put that in the past tense, because I overcame my skepticism last week when Michael & I decided to spend 4 nights & 5 days camping...in a tent...in South Dakota...for 4 nights & 5 days (Oh did I already mention that?!) =) I had a great time considering the whole drive there all that was running through my head was 'why in the world would anyone remove themselves from AC & running water & soft pillows to sleep in a tent, wash there dishes among bugs & feel like a complete dirtball every second of your day'. Well...apparently I do. And I proved to some people...well mostly to Mike & my mom (who seemed very concerned of the trek I was embarking on)...that I could do it.

We had a great time. We arrived later on Thursday night, set up camp & checked out our surroundings. We were nestled right on Lake Yankton down from the Dam in a well shaded, breezy area. Kudos on the location b/c the temp was less than steller for someone toting a child inside of them! What did we do...well I did a lot of laying around =) & it was awesome! Mike did some fishing, chopped wood and started a lot of fires. He fit the bill 'to a T' given he still had a massive beard & looked like he wandered down the mountain to check out civilians. We rode bikes & grilled & took a lot of photos. Thanks to weather.com, we were prepared for the ferocious storm that insued on early Saturday morning. The wind was outrageous & I about reached my threshold at that point for enduring nature up close & personal. We survived & woke the next morning to find we just dodged a giant branch that fell just yards away from our tent. Saturday started off damp but it was clear...until about mid afternoon ...while fishing & then the downpouring began. From that point on we were pretty much confined to the tent for the remainder of the day into the night. Sunday & Monday cleared up & we finished our trip strong. And despite my original thoughts that one of us probably wouldn't be coming back in one piece because I would go violent at some point during our time there...I didn't...& it was a success.

I should also mention that I OD'd on S'mores our last night there, had the worse sugar crash & have now sworn off S'mores from here on...well at least for the rest of the pregnancy. Here are some photos from the excursion!