Camping Weekend (and swimsuit pix!)

Greetings Blogland! I hope you all had a wonderful weekend. I took off Friday afternoon and went camping for the weekend. I've lived in this area for about 8 years, but I didn't really know of any good camping places. My sister has a campground membership at a RV resort so we usually go there, but it is on the Oregon coast which means the weather isn't great, even in summer and it is an RV resort so there are rows of campsites all together in the open. It would be fine for RV camping, but since I tent camp, it isn't my favorite destination. So I bravely set off for locations unknown and found a really nice camping area. There are probably 10 or so small campgrounds (20 or so sites) along a creek. We stayed at Bedrock Campground (Yabba Dubba Do!) along Fall Creek.

It was pretty rustic. We had to go to another campground to pump water. Damn my arms are STILL sore! There were outhouses, but no flush toilets and no showers. There was a great swimming area right behind our camp site. We had to climb down huge boulders to get to it, but my kids had a great time swimming in the icy water.

I like to camp and I remember 100 years ago when I was first banded thinking about how I would handle camping with the lap-band. Specifically I wondered if I would eat badly while camping or if I would manage to stick to my food plan. I was looking at it like a diet at that point, I guess. And we usually cheat on diets on special occasions, right? Flash forward 5 months and I am astounded by how different my life is now. First of all, I don't diet so there was nothing to cheat on. I eat whatever foods I want, in moderation. Secondly, my lap-band really keeps me from getting into too much trouble. I eat small portions and I don't get hungry as often as I did pre-band. So a meal of 1/3 of a vegetarian hot dog ("not" dog) and four or five doritos is completely satisfying. I don't officially log my calories anymore, but I did a count on Saturday just to see where I was at and I finished the day at 1,300 calories. This included a s'more AND a Slippery Nipple (Irish Cream and Butterscotch Schnapps). So basically a huge SPLURGE day with a lap-band came to 1,300 calories. WOW! It is easy to see why this is such a powerful and effective tool.

I promised a swimsuit pic and so here it is. I am resisting the urge to pick my image apart and point out all my flaws.

I was showing my oldest daughter the pictures from the trip and specifically a video I'd shot of her swimming and she asked me not to post some of them here or on facebook. She didn't say why, but I suspect she was unhappy with how she looked in her bathing suit. This makes me so sad. She is only 9 years old and is really beautiful. She is starting to develop and has a more womanly figure than many of her friends. I have told her that in the past, but I remember feeling the same way at her age. I see so much of my struggle in her and I really wish I knew how to help her. I hope I am a good role model for her and I talk to her about my experiences, but I think we have to figure some of this out on our own.


So I guess that's my weekend recap. I am mulling over some more thoughts about my daughter and also about my younger sister and especially my mom. I've posted before about our family's weight issues, but I think the time is coming for another post about it. Until then, happy Monday!