A Spring of Joy

On Friday a week ago, we set off on a family adventure in Gimli, our pull-behind RV…short and stout and ready for anything. Or at least we hope it’s ready for anything. We certainly were.

Although we weren’t quite ready for the beginning of our trip. The radiator hose in our Durango blew the night before we were to leave. Bri called Advance and they said they’d order the part and it would be ready for pick up in the morning, only they didn’t order the part and it wasn’t ready until after 1:00. We were hoping to be at our first stop by 1:00, so it was a setback and a blow to our children who then had to find things to do to fill their time. Needless to say we were all a bit antsy.

By 1:30 we had the part. Bri fixed our car; I took Coop to our friends who lovingly care for him whenever we travel; Bri finished packing Gimli and we were off–four hours late is better than not at all. We blasted music and chatted and the kids played a game or two, and we arrived at the campground three hours later just as Europe’s “The Final Countdown” came on over our satellite radio. We turned it up and put the windows down as we rolled through the campground looking for our friends and our site.

Marni and Tim were a sight for sore eyes after a very long day, and we circled the chairs at our site to swap stories of our day. Bri pulled out the camp stove and the pizza oven to make our supper, because why not make pizza when you’re camping?! Marni snapped shots while we compiled our dough, sauce and toppings: bbq chicken pizza, a couple margherita pizzas, cheese and pepperonis–we scarfed them down as the light grew dim and Duncle Tim (that’s a mixture of doctor and uncle and our children’s very affectionate nickname for him) started a fire with Bear’s help and we finally pried his book out of Ash’s hands to play a game of once upon a time around the campfire (it’s a game where one person starts a story, then stops whenever they want to and the next person picks up and so on). Frivolity was high and our stories were full of destruction, princesses, aliens and bananas.

Dear Marni is a friend since college; in fact, when Bri and I got married we fought over who’s side she should stand on, because she was such a good friend to us both. I won that battle and she was a lovely bridesmaid! Tim fits in perfectly with our crazy trio and they’re the only other couple we know who does the crazy quite like we do.

Saturday morning found us drinking coffee and eating muffins and sending them on their way to tubing Christmas in July style with their church while we packed up and headed north for a beautiful (though very long) drive next to the Susquehanna River. If Day One was any indication, it was going to be a lovely week.