Blessings and Joys: He pulled it off!

We have been looking forward to going camping for several weeks now. At first, we were going to go to Big Bend National Park, but sickness came here and a mountain lion attack came there and it just didn't work out. So, we started talking about going camping President's Day weekend since he would have Monday off. We decided that would be a great idea! And I was really excited because we were going to rent a camper! Jeff grew up going on vacation in Colorado in their families camper and was really excited about it too. My job to get ready was the food. Jeff told me that we were going to eat lots of hotdogs and hamburgers. Two days of hotdogs, two days of hamburgers. GREAT! I really liked hamburgers and hotdogs cooked over the fire, so I was excited. He also said that we should always take sandwich fixings because we never know when we might run out of food and to get two of the same boxes of complete hamburger helper which comes with the meat. That was strange I thought because I didn't know why in the world we would need the same exact box. But he's been camping and I haven't! I really wanted to bring jalapeno poppers and he said "Sure, bring a bunch!" Oh, I was so excited at that because we could have those for every meal! And bring a bunch I did!

So we got all packed up and drove to San Antonio to the camper rental place and while Jeff was in there, I thought that I'd send some texts out and see who would write back to kill some time. I sent one to my friend Stef and one to my friend Ellen. Stef wrote back after a few minutes and it was fun to talk with her. Ellen wrote back too although I thought it was a little strange because it was only 4:30 and she gets off at 5. But, it was Friday and I figured she just had her phone by her desk. I told her I was thinking of her because we were going camping! We'd been camping with them before back in November of 2010. She said she was SO JEALOUS and that their camper had broken down. That made me feel really bad because I know how much she loves to go camping. So, Jeff came back and we got the camper and headed out. We were on our way to Inks Lake State Park!!!!

It was about 2 hours away and it was pouring, drizzling, and just plain raining pretty much the whole way. Plus it was getting very dark. Jeff did a great job driving in all of it. We got to the state park around 7 pm and Jeff ran in ahead of four or five other people that got there the same time we did! I told him that was really fast and he said yep, and something like they just gave me a site on the water! Wow! I was so excited we would be on the water! It was going to be so pretty-when I could see it. So we had to drive around for site 263, me trying to follow where we were on the map. That was pathetic, I couldn't navigate well. Anyway, here we go, winding around all these campsites and we see where our site should be. I was a little dismayed because there was another camper in the spot right beside it. Rats! Oh well. And what? There was someone standing shining a light on our number! I thought, that person is in the wrong campsite! I looked out the window and it was Terry and Ellen!!!!!!!!!!! I couldn't believe it!!!!!!!! What?! Jeff had pulled it off completely! I have never really been able to be surprised because even one little hint gets my mind a-whirling, but he did it and had told no one! They had left early that morning and driven 5 hours and had gotten there about 3, got campsites together-on the water-and even had a campfire going for us! I just couldn't believe it. Jeff just loved it. Later, Jeff and I were playing cards in the camper and he showed me his and Terry's scheming in texts. They had planned it all in texts and I got to read all of them, including what we were bringing, what meals we were fixing, and what they were fixing-and that what the campsite number was and that we were only 30 minutes away! It just makes me smile right now thinking about it. We had such a wonderful time! Oh, and their camper HAD broken down-and they'd gotten it fixed Thursday night! :)