Dario had a series of hats that he brought camping. This was probably the most useful one. I didn’t think they actually made umbrella hats.

I was contacted by the good people at Palm Bay (well, technically their marketing team) asking me if I’d like to try out some new Palm Bay flavours. I was all over it, expecting to receive a couple of delightful beverages. Little did I know I would receive a giant ice bucket filled with Summer Time treats! What an excellent surprise!

It was so awesome that the Palm Bay came just in time for camping. I brought half up with me and am saving the second batch for our Canada Day Long Weekend Adventure of Awesomeness.

This little guy kept coming around eating all of our crumbs off the groud. He was very friendly and so beautiful! It’s not every day you see a bird this pretty in the forest!

He’s just adorable so I had to throw in a picture of him!

Stick ball commenced as soon as everything was set up. These guys were laughing too hard to actually play, but it was amusing to watch.

1) Pats nipple were on display all weekend. 2) Pats got a gut. 3) Pats t-shirts are too small for him.

Lady hung out with us all weekend sniffing stuff and eating chips.

Chad is 76% Dog.

These logs were a hatchets worse nightmare. We destroyed the hatchet by the end of the weekend.

Dario found a giant log and tried to play stick ball with it, turning stick ball into Log ball. It was way to hard so him and Mike tried to split the log by ramming it into a tree. This is what happened (notice the look on Mikes face). His chest was never the same after that.

The log got the best of Dario. That’s what you get for killing the ecosystem.

Dario dropped a turd.

Jeremy liked using Lady as a Machine Gun.

Flank Steaks are my best friend.

Dinner cheers!

(Ryan & Elise are not here because Ryan had to go back into town to join Elise at a work dinner, just so you know)

Chad thought it would be a good idea to do Olive Oil Shots. Yea. Like he needs more grease.

Of course I Italian Housewifed it.

Pat & Aimee brought cigars.

Dario found his own cigar.

They dubbed me Ernest Hemingway. Yes, we bought stainless steal wine glasses. Yes I wrote notes by the light of my lantern while smoking a cigar. Yes, I am amazing.

I don’t know what the hell happened here.

Another Hat!

This is how Jeremy fell asleep.

Dario decided to get Zen.

I didn’t get breakfast because the raccoons stole it. First time wildlife has ever stolen our food, which we typically leave out everywhere in a drunk fashion. OK NATURE, WE’VE LEARNED OUR LESSON!

This hat really came in handy on Saturday.

The boys discoverd that Palm Bay is the perfect mid morning drink.

Harry, where is Marv?

Bahahahahahaha.

It was pointed out that all the couple were wearing similar shoes which was kind of weird.

See, same shoes. What does that say about us?

Pat made his famous bacon burgers again, except this time they didn’t make us feel like we were going to die.

Pat Zaph Nipple Antennae

MIKE. Omg was he on fire this weekend.

Sleeping in the rain.

Darios beard pic.

We finally decided to put a tarp over the fire. We were prepared to sacrifice it if the fire wanted to melt it, we were just so sick of sitting in the rain.

The boys were handy.

Pat and Dario put together chicken on a spit. This was a total experiment that worked!

Swiss Chalets got nothing on us!

nom nom nom

Jeremy was the official chicken carver. We did 2 beer butt chickens on the BBQ and then Pat & Darios creation. It was the greatest chicken dinner of all time. If only my camera didn’t die after taking this photo. DAMN YOU CAMERA!

Another great year of FUBARing it!

Two years ago, before our first ever camping trip, Chad went out and bought all our supplies. This was a very bad move because I don’t think Chad fully thought it through. I have erected many a tent in my time yet somehow Chad picked the tent with the most random set up I have ever seen.This has proven to be the source of many frustrations each time we go camping.

Normally when we go camping Chad and the boys leave Friday morning and Elise and I join up with them Friday after work, so I don’t get to see the epic fail that is Chad vs. the tent, I only get to hear about it. This year I was pumped to see the disaster unfold.

This year Chad had the benefit of having 3 guys help him out. Didn’t matter though, it still took them forever.

I still think that left to my own devices I could probably set up the tent, by myself, in less time. Honestly, it’s not that difficult to figure out, it’s just set up the opposite way that every other tent is set up and because of that, Chad can never figure it out.

Thankfully Work Place Dario showed up to get boys motivated.

WHERE IS YOUR SAFETY VEST!?

45 later they were finally done. Yea, you heard me. 4 guys 1 tent 45 minutes.

Pat, Aimee, and I just sat back and watched with amusement. Next we got to witness Chad try and blow up 2 air mattresses which barely fit into our little tent. Each year we try to make small improvements to our camping lives but we never quite make it to full on comfort. I think Chad is secretly hoping we have a kid soon so he is forced to buy a bigger tent.

Camping. It never fails to amuse.

• Thursday night I realized that all my camping apparel is boxed and packed in my Uncles basement.
• I’m really glad I took the day off and went up on Friday morning because Friday was by far the best day of the weekend. Photos and Videos will prove it.
• It pissed rain all Friday night and most of Saturday. This made me cold, wet, and somewhat miserable.
• Next year, waterproof jackets are a definite requirement.
• I charged both my DSLR and digital camera in preparation for the trip. My DLSR died after one day of use. Note to self, one battery just doesn’t cut it. To make matters worse, my digital camera bit the dust Saturday night. 2 dead cameras = 1 very sad blogger.
• Unfortunately the new pillows my Mom bought for camping turned out to be the shittiest pillows on earth. This added to me being sleep deprived.
• Drunk boys screaming THUNDERSTRUCK at 3 in the morning is not entertaining.
• Drunker boys screaming random shit at 5 in the morning is even LESS entertaining.
• A raccoon stole my breakfast. True story.
• Rotisserie Chicken over a campfire DOES work when you have geniuses behind the scenes.
• We go gourmet when we camp. We expect nothing less.
• Boys like Palm Bays in the morning.
• Elise and I were ICED. I finished, Elise didn’t.
• 8 out of 10 of us would rather be shot then stabbed and 9 out of 10 like the HST.
• Always have a doctor on the scene.
• I am Ernest Hemingway.

Unfortunetly we weren’t really able to recouperate much yesterday given that it was Fathers day and all, so I feel like a bag of poop right now. The fact that I could not get warm for 2 days straight and had the worst sleeps ever are the reason for my horrible mood today. I’m hoping to dedicate this evening to editing all the pictures I WAS able to take while both cameras were still alive. What is up with my luck this year. Oh yea, I HAVE NONE! Friggin hell.

As for right now, I’m just going to try and coast through the day. I am FUBAR’d!

You know how I’m notorious for posting a million pictures, well I really tried to pair it down this time…if you can believe it.

So…here are the highlights!

Sometimes husbands are very thoughtful. My husband is usually thoughtful only when it comes to booze. He knew how much I love the Jack and Lemonade they serve at Memphis Blue, and found this stuff at the Liquor store. Yay!

We always go gourmet when it comes to camping. Dinner for 6 – Flank Steak, Baked Potatoes, Caesar Salad, and all the fixings!

There was some very interesting conversation that when around the camp site including a comparison of the male genitalia and the Canadian/US border.

A photo ruined by a classic Beer Pass.

BEST FRIEND SHOT

Every time Mike went to pee, Elise would throw rocks at him. She successfully hit him several times.

It started to rain Friday night so we had to adjust our seating.

Chad braved the rain with a home made water proof vest (garbage bag) and Colin brought out his Golf Umbrella.

Chad and I had a Beef Jerky Tug-O-War.

Neil sat in his chair after it had rained for quite a bit and got his ass wet. The solution? Warm it by the fire.

Elise was clearly not impressed by this.

Dario made everyone Flaming Etna’s. Chad had a hard time getting it down so Neil had to help. You can clearly see how Steve felt about it.

Pat resists 2010, Bitches.

Chad left his shoes in the rain. Classic. He tried to warm them but ended up burning them.

What happens when you have too much ice in the cooler? Frozen Eggs.

Steve was too lazy to get a fork so he used tongs to eat his eggs. Ha.

Dario doesn’t believe in Ketchup. Well, maybe not ‘doesn’t believe’ but he doesn’t like it. Therefore, he does not have any in his house. Now, this poses a problem when friends come over for burgers and expect to find it. Solution – buy Dario Ketchup for when we come over!

What is the smartest thing to do when you are massively hung over? How about eat your most hated item of food! Thats what Neil did! Eggs and Baileys nom nom nom.

The Pouwel/Tyrrell McMuffin.

The photographer emerges.

TREES

Neil spent most of the day like this.

No need for words.

Dario and Nyla play.

CAMP

Neil and brunch

Patz tent and our tent are holding hands. Awww.

Ol’Man asleep in the daisies.

Summer Toque.

The boys played poker, but were too drunk to remember to put it away. Bad idea since it poured Saturday night.

1 ruined Poker Set.

The making of the BACON burger. A dedicated post of this to come.

70% Bacon

Grill grill grill

The Bacon Sleeps

Adam and Alicia show up and Adam immediately gets naked.

Nice and hot down at the beach!

Adam naked again.

SQUIRREL

The moving of A & As tent. Long story short – the rangers kept screwing us over and our second campsite was moved…3 times.

Mike the hobo takes a nap.

Stickball induces anger.

The Resolution of Stickball.

One damn sexy couple. I think I see some nipple.

Elise got fish eye again.

Two best friends with a bet on who can out live who.

Steve made the first successful Jiffy Pop I have ever seen.

Nyla is hungry.

Darios Dinner

Ryan is passsssed out.

Someone thought it would be a good idea to burn a chair.

You can blame us for global warming. Sorry Al.

Thank God for this toque.

Most successful hat of the weekend goes to… The Fort Saint James LED hat! Woot Woot

THANKS MARLEE!

The Family Photo – minus Colin who would not get up.

Another successful camping trip.

Most of the quotes from this weekend are R rated, so they probably won’t go up on the blog. THANKS STEVE!

Want to see the rest of the photos? Click HERE.

Camping was a success.

We didn’t write down all the amazing one liners this time so I’m going to have to try to remember everything.

It rained 70% of the time, but that’s OK, we made it work.

Ranger Danger attempted to kick us out (apparently) on Friday night, but that didn’t happen.

They totally left us alone on Saturday night.

Mike and Anthea had to relocate their tent 3 times.

The park rangers tried to screw us over, and Pat almost lost is Crown Royal and Apple juice shit on them, but we prevented it.

Stick Ball has never had so many rules before.

All 300ish pictures have been uploaded to Flickr, and no, I won’t post them all on here.

It’s going to take a while to recover from this weekend.