camping, lots of dirt, catching butterflies, skunks, and catching our first fish

Summer of 2009 was filled with family, friends, and fun. The best time I think we had was when we went camping with our cute family of five. Granted, I was 7 months pregnant, did not sleep a wink, got up four times (three to pee and one to throw up), and was almost sprayed by a skunk. It still was a blast. I seriously love watching my kids run around and just be kids. They were filthy dirty and loving it. We made some great memories on this trip. The kids met some older girls with butterfly nets. They swindled them in to letting them use them and McKay and Jaden caught a ton of these tiny purple butterflies. They were so into it and so concentrated on catching butterflies that they were occupied half the day. There also was a swing tied to a huge tree that would swing out over a huge ditch. There were not a lot of people camping when we went, so they pretty much took over the swing. The scariest part of the whole trip was at night when we were eating and I saw a pair of glowing eyes near our camp. I froze and told Shaun that there was something coming towards us. He took his flashlight and put it right on a huge skunk. I guess skunks don't have great eye sight because it came right through our camp without batting an eye. I totally freaked out and felt like the girlfriend from parent trap. I yelled to my kids to get in the car as fast as they could and made them stay there until the skunk was gone. Jaden was crying, Roxcy was screaming, and McKay was laughing. The rest of the night Jaden would burst into tears because she was afraid a skunk was going to come and get her. Good job mom! One of the times I got up to go pee I had a baby skunk right by me with his tail in the air. I have never ran so fast in my life, pregnant and all. I will be ok if I never see another skunk again. I think hands down the highlight of the whole trip was when we went fishing. We went to a fish hatchery where you pay to fish. I know it is cheating, but we knew it would take all day to catch a fish and frankly I am not that patient. The kids had a ball, and McKay had been talking about catching his own fish for months. I was praying so hard that it would happen, and low and behold, within minutes he had caught his first fish. Then a few minutes later Jaden caught hers. The look on both of their faces was priceless. They still talk about it. We got quite the education that day as we took the fish home, got on line and found out how to skin, and debone a fish. The kids were totally into it and so was Shaun. They did a great job and it was the best fish I had ever had.