Can you say catastrophe?

Here's an age-old arithmetic problem:

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It was the best of times, it was the worst of times

+ Love/hate relationships

+ What can go wrong will go wrong

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What do these add up to?

Family Vacation!

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Andrew's parents just bought a "new" RV, and we thought we'd all take it out to the lake this past weekend. I still haven't quite recovered from all of our "fun."

I kind of have an policy of not writing negative things about family members on my blog, but both of my in-laws insisted that I document this epic weekend. I think that they wanted to see just how brutally honest I was going to be. I'll try to balance all of the negative with a positive and see how far we get.

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Friday:

Positive- Grandma didn't have to go to work so we could leave earlier than expected.

Negative: It was still over 100 degrees when we left at lunchtime.

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Positive- The kids were ready for naps by the time we left- quiet trip, right?

Negative- The RV started having mechanical issues about 1/2 mile from home. No sleep for the weary.

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Positive- The kids were FANTASTIC, excited, and patient all day long.
Negative- We spent the entire day either broken down on the side of the road or waiting back at Grandma's house for the RV to get fixed so that we could continue the trip.

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Positive- Cousin DJ was able to give us a ride back out to the RV once it was fixed.
Negative- Daddy & Grandpa had taken off in the RV and left Grandma by herself on the side of the road in the truck to wait for us.

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Positive- Daddy & Grandpa were fishing at the campsite by sundown.

Negative- Mommy, Grandma, and the kids driving around an unmarked, undeveloped recreation area on the San Carlos Apache Indian Reservation until almost 9:00 pm looking for the campsite that not even Grandpa could give us directions to.

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Positive- We finally made it safely to the campsite.

Negative- The family of skunks & swarms of mosquitos that beat us there.

Saturday:

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Positive- Frank & Emma slept remarkably well for not being in their own beds.

Negative- Grandpa getting up at 4:30 am to go fishing & waking most of us up.

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Positive- Beautiful lake.

Negative- Not one single place that the kids could get in the water & play.

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Positive- The kids were perfectly content to play in the dirt while Grandpa & Daddy fished.

Negative- The broken glass, plastic, and trash that littered all but about 6 square feet of the campsite.

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Positive- Naptime for everyone!

Negative- Grandpa only takes 30 minute naps while everyone else needs at LEAST an hour, usually 2. You do the math.

Positive- Daddy & kid time in the tubes. Emma caught 5 fish all by herself! Frank caught 1 (with Daddy's help).

Negative- Mommy & Grandma left sweltering on the shore to deal with the truckloads of people coming to scream, swim, and make out at our prime campsite.

Positive- A shower to clean my filthy kids in.

Negative- Not enough water for anyone else to bathe in. Can you say stinky?

Positive- Early bedtime!

Negative- (this is gonna take more than one)

THE A/C WON'T WORK!!!!!!!!!

Swarms of mosquitoes beating at the screens.

The family of skunks tearing up the campsite.

A VERY long night!

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Sunday: Happy Father's Day!

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Positive- Daddy loved the presents we got him.

Negative- It was about 90 degrees by 7:00 am.

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Positive- All packed up & ready to go by 8:00 am.

Negative- NONE! Back to Thatcher by 9:30 am!

Positive- Grandpa got us a screamin' deal on a little commuter car for Andy.

Negative- It was leaking some sort of fluid all over the driveway before we even left for home.

Positive- Only wiper fluid, yea!

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Positive- Making it back to Tucson as soon as we could with no problems or incidents along the way.

Negative- The GIANT hole torn in my garden fence & the tomatoes & squash left smashed on the ground from my dogs laying on them.

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At this point, who cares? We're home!

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Trying to look on the bright side, I'd say that all in all, it was a success. We were able to spend time with people that love us & adore our kids. We were able to get away from home for a weekend & Andy got to go fishing, his very favorite activity. Good times. After all, someone could've stepped on the broken glass, fell in the lake, or been bitten by a rabid skunk. None of that happened, and the kids had a great time no matter how miserable some of the rest of us were. I'm just glad we all made it home in 1 piece.

And Grandma & Grandpa, let's just hold off on planning that next camping trip until the memories of this one fade a bit, OK?