Camping with the family

Every once in awhile my husband reminds me how freaking funny he is.

This weekend we went camping with my family. Camping means hanging out at the campground, going on ATV rides and eating a lot of junk food. Additionally on this trip, Ben got to hear me perform fantabulous hits of the 70's since they were the only CD's in my dad's Excursion. We had to drive it up instead of our car as extra towing power because my dad was afraid his new Semi wouldn't fit into the campground. Shocking thought isn't it. (Don't worry, I'm sure we will post on my dad's semi and all his crazy toys.)

Ben is relatively new to Dannelly style camping. This means he is constantly being trained by Paul (my dad) on various camping skills. My siblings and I have learned that this is how life with Paul goes. You are always being directed to do something. It might be the classic "Hold your plate with both hands!" or "You need to shine that flashlight on (blank)." No matter what the direction is, you sometimes wonder whether or not he forgot you are his offspring and not his employee. These directions/commands have good intentions because he wants us to learn things. The funny thing is that he often thinks that we need to learn something that it pretty much common sense.

On this trip Ben "learned" that he had to let the diesel light turn off before turning on the Excursion. He also "learned" that when cleaning dutch ovens, you don't want to scrub the black off and if you are going to lift a hot dutch oven lid with the pole, use both hands! He also learned how to cook (keep in mind Ben does almost all of the cooking at home) potatoes and that you can't mess with them or they fall apart. My dad is so stinking cute sometimes. All of these lessons are particularly funny because Ben is a chemical engineering PhD. student and pretty darn smart to boot.

One of the funnier moments of the trip has been documented by these photos. I have a little brother who likes to steal my helmet for his hoochies and then forget to return it to the trailer. As we prepared to ride on Saturday I found that the little punk had done it again! GRRRRR!!! This meant that we were short a regular helmet.

Leave it to my husband to solve the problem. When my parents first purchased our ATVs they also purchased the "Dumb and Dumber" helmets. As you can see, Ben found them. He completed the ensemble with some super awesome goggles and gloves all while leaving his ever present baseball cap on. My husband is H-O-T-T-T! Not to be outdone, Bessie (my little sister Bethany) donned the white helmet and the two made fashion history. He now plans to add stickers to increase the helmet's awesomeness. Possibly a glittery Virgin Mary or simply letters across the back stating the obvious . . . "Ben Rules!" I think my mom was a little embarrassed because she kept offering him her helmet.