Yup! We went CAMPING!

If you know me you know that camping is NOT my thing, at all, in any way.  My idea of roughing it is a Holiday Inn, as my Mother so loves to say. 

In the past each and every time I would go camping with my family, as a child, it would rain.  If I didn't go, it wouldn't rain, everyone would have fun, nobody would get lost, etc...  It became a habit that I wouldn't even be included in the camping invite, my family knowing that I would much rather just stay home.

When Jon and I started dating and got married, he wanted to camp.  We've only been camping a few times, which have resulted in a stomach bug in the middle of the night, a flat tire, a totaled car (in the middle of nowhere while pregnant), and of course, RAIN.

You can see why I am rather reluctant to go camping.  I've always felt a bit guilty not taking the kids camping more, as I do think it's important for them.  Joe has gone a bit with Jon and my Dad separately, but not so much with me.  I know they need it, and so I went along with Jon when he caught the camping bug and bought a tent.

We have plans to go camping at the end of the school holiday for three nights, and so Jon thought it a good idea to break in our camping gear and go for a one night camping trip somewhere close.  He booked a site at a cute little farm that has a big open field to pitch a tent and a nice little lake that you can fish on. 

I'm pretty sure Jon worked really hard to make my experience nice and easy and without any negative event, knowing my history with camping.  It was actually a really nice time.  As soon as we got there we decided to pitch our new tent in front of a little hill thinking it would provide some privacy, little did we know that was literally the mound that ALL the children in the park, including ours, played on day and night.  The kids made a few cute little friends while we were there, playing contentedly rarely coming back round to our tent. 

All in all, it was a good time, and I am looking forward to going at the end of the month for a few days as long as there are clean toilets and showers, I'll be alright.

Oh, and in case you were wondering, it didn't rain.  Well, it did for about 30 seconds while we were packing up, so that doesn't count!

Like our wind breakers?  We were shocked to see that everyone there had them.  It kind of helped with the wind and it added a bit of privacy for us as well.

Making smores.  Joe was pretty much the only one that liked them, Joci liked her marshmallows toasted and straight off the stick.

The kids playing on the mound.

August 11th and 12th, 2012

William Shakespeare

Alright, admittedly I am not a Shakespeare fan.  I find myself tuning out clouded by the 'fancy' language and sometimes unable to follow the plays because of it.  But, here in England he is a major hero and everyone is, rightfully, proud that he was a Brit. 

I was watching Horrible Histories with the kids this morning, which if you don't know it is a funny sketch show based on the Horrible Histories books filled with funny, gory, and gross facts about history that appeal to kids.  So, it's fun to watch and you learn a few things, too.  One of the sketches on the show was William Shakespeare singing a song about all of his famous phrases, many that we still use today, and I thought I would share.  I never knew most of these were his. How many of these have you used?

"You've got to be cruel to be kind"

"If truth were known"

"Love is blind"

"Seen better days"

"Salad days"

"All the world's a stage"

"Quality of mercy is not strained"

"Such stuff as dreams are made"

"Off with his head"

"This is the short and long of it"

"Brevity is the soul of wit"

"As good luck would have it"

"Green eyed jealousy"

"Stand on ceremony"

"The Queen's English"

"It's Greek to me"

"Meat and drink to me"

"Infinite variety"

"A wild goose chase"

"You can't have too much of a good thing"

"If music be the food of love, play on"

"Et tu, Brute"

"Forever and a day"

"Good riddance"

"Fair play"

"Pure as the driven snow"

"High time"

"Lie low"

"Wherefore art thou Romeo"

"To be or not to be"