Camp

Luckily, my mom had to use the wide angle lens to get Harry in the picture because he is so short. I say luckily because I have no makeup on my blotchy face or hair product in my hair (unless by product, you mean two scraggly ponytails and a couple of ninety-nine cent headbands). Seriously, I went a whole day with no products-- even my body lotion was unscented. Which didn't work, by the way. The mosquitos bit the hell out of me. Because I am so sweet. Andy by a whole day, I mean the 12 or so hours I spent "hiking" between breakfast and getting dressed up for a yummy dinner at the lodge. By dressed up, I mean showered. Oh? And you should try a grapetini or three.

We really had a fantastic time. The park was gorgeous (and gorge-ous-- if I made that joke once...), and we were early enough in the season to catch the waterfalls. We had perfect weather, and Harry was enchanted by the trees. He spent the whole weekend pointing at them and saying "Thissssss" in a really awed tone. On another Harry vocab note, he said "wa wa" a couple of times while washing his hands and while soaking his fingers in somebody's (anybody's-- he didn't care) ice water at meals (ice water is the new finger bowl, dudh). He also says "ba" for all words that start with a "b": baby, bottle, bath, book, bitchin'.

But back to the trip. We walked to Lover's Leap and Starved Rock on Saturday, and then Harry and his grandparents went back to the pool, and Ben and I took a 3 mile walk down a canyon to see a waterfall. Beautiful!!

Ben the intrepid explorer-- and Harry is totally right behind him in a backpack

See?


Admiring the view from the actual starved rock. Don't let this shot fool you, wearing Harry in that contraption was anything but relaxing. SOOOOOOOO heavy. Also, all of the weight ends up squarely on the shoulders, and the super tight waist strap is just a really ugly belt. No lumbar support there.

There's a blue jay in this picture. Swear it.

A picture of someone (aka my dad) taking a picture-- bet you've never seen that before! So clever!


Harry sleeping on our hike, which was uphill both ways



Me and the Illinois River, which is just as yucky looking as it is in Peoria. (No offense, Illinois River, but seriously, I think you're ugly).


I like this picture because it is a total action shot-- this is what we did: walked, bitched, and took pictures

If this picture were a Successory-- and it totally could be-- the caption would be "Inspiration"

Ben collapsing with exhaustion after he unstrapped his Harry pack. The back of his shirt was soaked with sweat. Harry, however, emerged from his pack refreshed and fairly dry.


More fuel for the fire

Harry could tell we were making fun of him with this outfit. Especially since the surf was nowhere in sight.

After 13 years of taking these pictures, we have finally mastered the art of the self portrait. It's all because Ben has such long arms. And oh my god, we've known each other for 13 years?!


Ah, yes. Here's a picture taken after I lost my shit because a bumble bee (you know: the huge fuzzy, scary kind) grazed my knee. I said "Oh my god! A bee! A bee! I want to go back right now!" Unfortunately, Ben and I were not alone on the trail, and a cute older couple heard me freak the freak out and laughed and laughed. They told us to keep going because the view at the bottom of the canyon was worth it.

And they were so right. That tiny blue thing is Ben.

"Patience."


Holy crap! A waterfall!*

*Not the Successory name
Me standing on a wobbly plank in front of the waterfall

Ben on the way back from the waterfall Waterfall, waterfall, waterfall, blah, blah, blah waterfall

Harry finishing a bottle moments after exiting the pool and proving that swim diapers can't hold their water by peeing all over his grandma

Cruisng through cocktails



Starved Rock from the veranda of the lodge

Another lovely and carefully built fire


The remains of a citronella candle dumped by Drunky McDrunkerson and crew


A raccoon who lost out on my leftover steak because a creepy stray black cat beat him to it

Drunky McDrunkerson and crew


Me and Harry enjoying a morning beverage



Breakfast


You think Harry needs a shorter table? Or maybe a taller chair?

On the way home, we decided to stop and see Harry's other grandparents, and Harry got to play with his cuz


Unfortunately, Harry's screaming, grabbing, and constant moving annoyed the heck out of Max, who prefers much more civilized play



After systematically trashing the family roon, Harry blithely moved to the kitchen, oblivious to the destruction in his wake.

Vacay! Is it Camping When You Have Wi-Fi??

Before we left on our trip, Ben, Harry and I went to Little Gym for a special friday makeup class.

Harry's doing a wheel barrow. He also did this all across the baance beam, but we were too awed to take a picture

Then Harry and Josephine tried to push this orange thing, and as you can tell from the blurriness, they were working really hard...


and then "they" became "Harry" working hard as Josephine decided to hitch a ride.


The view from our cabin and Harry by a cooler filled with Mounds bars, beer, and a bottle of fake milk. Yummy.



Harry at the pool and after the pool in one of his dady's shirts.



After Harry went to bed we got drunk and sat in front of a lovely fire. A lovely fire that Ben worked very hard to build, gathering up all twigs within a half-mile radius of the cabin, asking the font desk for tons of paper (is it camping when you have a front desk?) and even burning plastic. And we made plastic flavored s'mores.



After breakfast, Harry chilled in his camp chair


Ben ready to go fishing


And now we come to the reason I am writing this: We can't freaking hike with Harry's stroller. Later, after Ben and Gary get back from fishing, we'll try hiking with Harry in the backpack, which neither of us (me or Harry's Gramma) want to carry. But, just so you know, we carried his freaking stroller down all these freaking stairs and then realizd that there were MORE stairs and we couldn't carry it anymore, so we carried the freaking stroller all the way back UP the stairs. The we walked on the sidewalk until Harry fell alsepp, and if he poops, we'll take him back in the pool. Even though most of the people who read this blog are HERE, I am sure we'll update obbsessively later. Especially if it rains.