La Push, Baby. It's La Push.

Before this weekend, if you would have asked me to list my 3 WORST ways to spend a weekend, I would have said:

#1 - pulling weeds and shoveling manure out of a horse/cow pasture (unfortunate flashbacks from my childhood).

#2 - being a house guest (this gal totally gets where I'm coming from!)

#3 - camping in an RV park (ummm . . . Ugh. Not sure why, but those places make me shudder. It's like camping in a Walmart parking lot.)

So guess what we did this weekend? Go on - guess. Nope, we didn't shovel any crap. And no, we didn't sleep on anyone's couch.

Yep. We camped in an RV Park.

But it gets better. We decided to do our good 'ol Russell family camping trip to La Push, WA. Yes, Twilight fans. The La Push. Home of the werewolves . . . right next to Forks, home of the vampires. The place that was chosen as the setting for this book because IT IS SO FREAKIN' RAINY ALL THE TIME. (In case you have managed to save a few brain cells and have avoided reading this luscious piece of literature, I'll let you in on the secret . . . vampires "glisten" in sunlight and therefore prefer to live in places which are predominately cloudy, a.k.a. Forks/La Push, WA.)

So now my #3 WORST way to spend a weekend has been bumped down to #4. And the new 3rd WORST way to spend a weekend:

#3 - camping in the rain in an RV park.

Actually, thanks to the ingenuity of my dear husband, and the infectious optimism of my kids, I think we all had a pretty great time.

Nathan managed to keep us fairly dry with his clever tarp hanging. I mean, heck . . . as long as you're living in an RV park, you might as well try to fit in. ALL the cool RV's had tarps decorating their sites in various and sundry ways.

And even though we were sorely lacking in tattoos (and I completely forgot to bring along my collection of tie-dye halter tops, not to mention the fact that we were shamefully without a single mangy dog to swear at), we did our best to fit in with the other rednecks campers. (My apologies if I've offended any RV park lovers out there.)

Despite the drizzly weather, we had a great time exploring the local beaches. We loved beachcombing and climbing all over the huge logs on the beaches.

Our favorite beach was Rialto. There were so many trees to climb and drift wood for making forts.

Here are Adana & Baba, returning from one (of many) trips to the bathroom. I still find myself cursing the day she potty trained. Diapers would have made camping so much easier. Imagine curling up in your warm sleeping bag and just starting to fall asleep in your dark tent, the rain pounding against the tarp outside, only to hear, "Baba, I have to go potty." He's a good daddy!

My favorite thing about Rialto beach is the amazing rocks! They are churned and tossed in the surf until they are completely smooth and round. We gathered a bucket full to bring home for our garden. They come in every color imaginable - with speckles and stripes. But the colors only show up when they are wet. When they're dry, they just look like plain, gray stones. (I'm sure there's a great analogy there for a church talk, but I'm too tired to think of it right now.)

Can you believe that my dopey kids SWAM in this water!? Those people off in the distance are surfers, wearing FULL (head to food, with only their faces showing) wet suits. They just looked at my wacky kids - lips turning blue - and laughed. I can't be too harsh on them, though, because that's totally what I did as a kid too.

Back at camp, I finally introduced my offspring to one of the great pleasures of childhood:

Jiffy Pop popcorn! They loved it!

All in all, it was a great weekend. I still hate RV parks and I hope to never again camp in the rain. But I love watching my kids play together. I love seeing them cook over a fire, and make up games with sticks and pine cones. I love how they enjoy hanging out with their dad, and how camping tends to mellow me a bit when it comes to dirt and grime (although I still have to have all the shoes lined up in a neat row in front of the tents, and everyone needs to write their name on their cup, and don't even get me started on tracking dirt into the tent . . .) :-)

And most of all, I LOVE coming back home after camping and taking a hot shower, then sleeping in my own bed. Ahhh . . .