Deckerville, Michigan

Lake Huron Campground

August 5th through August 7th, 2011

Friday, August 5th, 2011 - 81/59°, Mostly Sunny

    Having me take a half of a vacation day seems to be the easiest way for us to get ready for our camping trips, as we never seem to be able to accomplish everything that we need to ahead of time. Like our other camping trips this year, I followed the same routine today, coming home and taking care of the last minute packing before it is time to go. Besides, being home earlier in the day gives us a chance to get on the road a couple of extra hours early as well.

    Tara came home from work on time today as well, which allowed us to get on the road a little after 2:00pm. We had a nice drive today, running free of traffic our entire way. I even turned over the wheel to Tara for the first time ever just outside of Brown City, and she completed the drive from there! Our only problem occurred past Sandusky, when Tinkerbell’s upset stomach got the best of her, causing her to have an accident in the truck. Jeff & Becky happened to pass by as we were pulled off to the side of the road cleaning up the mess. They were kind enough to stop to make sure that we were OK. We assured them that we were before following them the rest of the way to the campground.

    When we pulled into the campground shortly before 5:00pm, Dad & Mom were already there checking in. Somehow, without coordinating anything, the three families that were camping together this weekend had all managed to arrive within 5 minutes of each other! We went inside to check in while Dad & Mom headed off to their site (#348) to begin setting up. Once we checked in, we too headed to our site. We were originally booked on site #346 with Jeff & Becky next door on site #347. They were kind enough to offer to switch site with us, which us put us in the middle of them in Dad & Mom for the weekend.

    As we worked on unloading and setting up the camper we discovered that Samantha’s bike tire was flat once again (this is the second trip that her front bike tire has been flat on this year). When we were close to finished with the setup, I climbed back into the truck to make a quick trip to Wal-Mart in Sandusky to buy a new tube for her bike and some broccoli slaw that Tara needed for the Parrott family reunion being held in the campground on Sunday.

    While I was gone everyone who remained at the campsites worked on preparing dinner. Tonight we had hot dogs and hamburgers with mac-n-cheese. I returned just in time to grab my burger and have a quick bite to eat. Before we knew it the time had come to pick things up so that we could head into Deckerville for the tractor pull.

    Once in town, we headed to Wilson Park to watch the truck pull, avoiding some confusion about paying for Jayden to get in (5 and under were supposed to be free, but the lady tried to charge us for six people even though she isn’t even 5 yet). We found a spot in the bleachers to watch the trucks and tractors heading down the track. From our seats we even got a view of the fireworks in town as dusk set in! The kids enjoyed some popcorn, but we were all disappointed that the price of the elephant ears had gone up so much.

    As the evening wore on the kids began getting tired (and tired of watching the action on the track), so we decided to head to the campers around 11:30pm. When we were back at the campground Tara & I worked on getting the kids ready for bed. We had to take care of unpacking a few more things before we could head to bed ourselves, turning off the last light around 1:00am.

Saturday, August 6th, 2011 - 81/64°, Mostly Cloudy

    Tyler woke up Tara & me a little before 7:00am this morning to let us know that Tinkerbell had a reoccurrence of yesterday’s issues during the night. Thankfully we had the foresight to put her in her cage overnight, or this little mess would have been all over the camper. Tara graciously volunteered to do the cleanup so that I could attempt to get some more sleep, as I hadn’t been sleeping well since breaking my finger one week earlier (it is amazing how difficult it can be to find a comfortable sleeping position with your hand above your heart in an attempt to minimize the throbbing!).

    After Tara had cleaned up the mess, she took Tyler with her to Sandusky to go to the Wal-Mart to buy some items to make a dog food “brat” diet for Tinkerbell that was recommended to us by Jeff & Becky to help eliminate the doggy diarrhea we have been dealing with. I attempted to fall back asleep while they were gone, but without much success. After lying in bed for about an hour without getting much sleep, I decided that I would head out for a run. Samantha, Drew, and Jayden were all still sound asleep, and there were family and friends on either side of our camper, so I figured that they would be OK alone inside for a bit. Besides, I wasn’t planning on be gone long. I ended up going 2.45 miles down Forester Road in 22 minutes, and I made it back before any of them woke up.

    Since the kids were still sleeping and Tara and Tyler had yet to return I decided that I would take the time to replace Sam’s bike tube. Things were going fairly smoothly except that the tube was very difficult to get into the tire. In my attempt at using a screwdriver to get the tire onto the rim I wound up putting a small puncture in the new tube. Needless to say, the trip yesterday was quickly rendered useless. As I was finishing the process of putting Sam’s bike back together without a tube in her tire, others began stirring around the campsites. Tara and Tyler also returned, and Tara worked on making the food for Tinkerbell’s digestive problems.

    Once everyone was officially up and moving outside of the campers, we began making a big breakfast. This one truly fit the definition of big, too, as we would be cooking not only for ourselves, but Jeff, Becky, Thomas, and Andrew, my parents, my grandmother, my Uncle Steve, my Aunt Julie and her boyfriend Terry, and my Uncle Dennis & Aunt Karen as well. Thankfully between the three campers we had plenty of food to go around.

    We finally managed to sit down to eat around 10:30am, which was probably a little later than we should have been eating, especially considering the fact that we needed to drive to town to get seats for the parade which started at noon. We hurried through eating and cleanup, but not without incidence. My kids just seem to have a way of getting under my skin when I need it least, and today was one of those days. From crying over the simplest things to doing things they have been told over and over again not to, it all seemed to happen this morning. I lost my cool more than once, and it wound up costing me…

    As we finally managed to get the kids into the truck (after they had been sent inside once due to their constant arguing) I was told to go inside to take a nap while everyone else headed off into town to have a good time. This certainly didn’t feel good, as I felt my actions were justified. I realize that I went over the top, but ultimately the kids got away with all of their misbehaving this morning without any type of punishment.

    Since everyone else was off enjoying the parade and the car show, I took off for a walk. I knew I wouldn’t be able to get any rest, so I figured I might as well make the most of my time. After taking in some of the scenery near the bridges in the campground, I headed to the gazebo on the island in the lake to sit in peace and quiet to edit the journal from our last trip. It felt good to actually get something accomplished without the yelling and screaming that normally can be heard in the background when I attempt to do this kind of work.

    Tara, our kids, Jeff, Becky, and their boys all returned from town sometime around 2:00pm. They all wound up heading off to the swimming pool for a dip, as my kids had been begging to go pretty much since we arrived. While everyone was off enjoying the pool, I figured I’d head back to Wal-Mart once again to try to exchange the bike tire tube one last time (if this one didn’t work out for me, I was tempted to just start all over with a new bike!).

    When I returned from my shopping trip (with a can of fix-a-flat stuff for bikes too, just in case) I set about replacing the tube, this time without any tools getting near the tube. Finally… success! Just in time too, as the kids made their way back from the pool so that the adults could prepare for dinner. Once they had changed, the kids took to the streets with the chalk, creating all kinds of beautiful pictures for us to enjoy.

    Tonight’s meal of choice was a fish fry. We had perch, walleye, and smelt along with french-fries, coleslaw, and corn-on-the-cob in the fire. We had three turkey fryers going to keep everything hot, and everything turned out wonderful. Some of our group (Dad & Mom, Julie & Terry, and Denny & Karen) had gone out for all-you-can-eat fish at William’s Inn the night before, and I was told our fish was much better. That is a true complement to our chefs – Dad, Jeff, Tara, and Becky.

    After dinner we spent some time hanging around the campfire while the kids played. They spent a lot of time riding their bikes (especially Sam, who was finally able to ride her bike!). Tyler also managed to sneak off with the other boys to do some fishing, and the girls joined up with them a short while later to build sandcastles on the beach.

    As darkness set in my parents and aunts & uncles decided to head into Deckerville to visit the beer tent and to catch up on old times with long lost friends. Jeff, Becky, Tara, and I worked on putting the kids in bed for the night before returning to sit by the campfire. Even though we got hit with a few sprinkles here and there, we managed to hang out and have a good time. Around midnight the rain picked up a little bit, causing us to move under the awning before finally calling it a night. Despite my rough day overall, the ending was surely nice.

Sunday, August 7th, 2010 - 81/66°, Cloudy

    We managed to sleep in to 9:00am today, our last day at the campground. We were originally planning on leaving our camper here for the week, but the high cost of each weekend combined with our plans for next Friday evening led us to decide to haul everything home today and skip the camping trip next weekend. Once we were all up and moving we worked on packing everything up while at the same time grabbing a bite to eat for breakfast.

    We didn’t exactly set a record pace picking up today, because we were staying in the park to attend a Parrott family reunion in the afternoon (the campground had given us the OK to let our camper stay on the site while we were at the pavilion). Jeff & Becky didn’t have that luxury; as they had to get an earlier start so that Becky could make it to work on time later in the afternoon. We said our goodbyes to them as they pulled out around 12:30pm. We finished packing all but a few of the last minute larger items until around 1:30pm, when we made our way to the reunion.

    We made it over to the pavilion just in time to eat dinner (hamburgers and hot dogs were provided, the rest was pot luck). We hung around and talked to a few people that we knew (and, sorry to say, tended to ignore those we didn’t know) before taking a few “generational photos.”

    The sky began to darken, and occasional rumbles of thunder could be heard in the distance. We decided we should get a jump on the storm, with the hope that we could outrun it the entire way home. We headed back to the camper to pack up the last few items. We waved goodbye to everyone was we pulled out of the campground, with Tara behind the wheel once again, around 3:00pm.

    Our drive home was smooth, with no stops required this time (for neither pet nor child!). We pulled in the driveway a little after 5:00pm and began the process of unloading once again.

Trip Summary

    I have to say that I hope my temper didn’t upset anyone too greatly. I certainly didn’t mean to offend anyone, although I am sure I did. I will offer no excuses here, other than to say I am truly sorry.

    Despite having a bad time on Saturday morning and into the afternoon on a personal level, I still enjoyed the trip overall. It is always nice to be able to camp with great people, and Jeff, Becky, Thomas, and Andrew certainly qualify as that (even if I don’t…). It was also nice to have some extra family around, family that we don’t get to see very often because they live so far away in Denny & Karen (Tennessee) and Julie & Terry (Florida). Although this made things a little hectic and overwhelming at times (I am especially sure for Jeff & Becky, who weren’t expecting such a crowd – although neither was I, as I thought they were staying in a cabin at Forester Park), it was still nice to be able to have the opportunity to spend some time with everyone.

    Obviously if I had it to do all over again, I would have not lost my cool quite so bad. I am only hoping that everyone will be willing to give me another shot and camp with me again in the future...