Yesterday was my first day back after more than a week away. A long week…

There are a few things that I learned (in no particular order) and I’ll let you decide if they’re good, bad, or neither.

1. No matter how much food you pack and what you plan someone will complain that there is nothing to eat and want to go to the store.

2. You tell everyone to pack for 9 days. Do laundry while you’re camping and they still run out of clothes.

3. Toddlers never leave their shoes on. Never. No matter what you say.

4. When toddlers take their shoes off they lose them. Yes, lose them…. meaning my son doesn’t have tennis shoes and I have to go replace them.

5. As soon as I replace the lost tennis shoes they’ll turn up.

6. Even when you’re camping on grass, no sand/dirt in sight, and a paved road kids still look like they rolled in dirt by dinner time.

7. Campers hold a very small amount of hot water and kids need a bath almost every single night.

8. Your parents will let your kids get away with just about everything they didn’t let you do. This isn’t new though, right?

9. Even the biggest camper seems small with 6 people after a few days.

10. Best part about camping… spending the day at the beach.

11. Worst part about camping… being in a location where there is no internet access, no 4G, and barely enough edge service to send a text message. Thanks AT&T.

Overall it was a pretty good week because I was able to spend some quality time with my parents and my sister came home with her boys. And yes, it wasn’t all that bad disconnecting like that because I was able to spend a little time with my kids, my parents, and read two books.

So, now I play the catch up game. What’d I miss?