Dough+Ham+Salami+Pepperoni+Provolone+ItalianSeasoning+LOVE= Jamboree Stromboli!

My best girl, Roberta, and I, making memories we might have forgotten at Jamboree!

That’s right, kids. It’s stromboli time! I’m slaving away in the kitchen, beating incooperative, mooshy, slight-raised, slightly-frozen bread dough into stromboli. I do this every year at about this time, because hey! Pack your bags, there’s a place we gotta go, back in the hill country of O-hi-o! It’s Jamboree in the Hills!

I’ve been going to Jambo since 2001, save for 2006, when I was home alone with a 2-1/2-year-old Lily and a one-month old, Max. (Gee, thanks, Shrek!)

Anyway, let’s not talk about how sad I was to miss it that year. I’ve been to Jambo single, married, knocked up and nursing. Let me tell you, it’s best to be able to imbibe a bit. But, alas, I can’t miss it! I can’t not go hang out our campsite, full of family and friends, hillbilly bars, drinking games and pools; I can’t not walk to and from the show in my cowboy boots and hat, sometimes not quite sure of my location, but always in good company; I can’t not go into the show, where at least some of the scheduled 28 country acts will knock my socks off. It’s an amazing experience, and those of you readers who have been there–even just once–will surely agree.

My siblings, my mother and I at Jamboree. See, I told you the whole family was there!

The stromboli? Well, it’s the perfect cooler snack. Goes so nicely there in Ziploc bags beside the Kirky blasters, Gatorades and BEER. (None for me, I know, I know.)

Just to clarify, these wonderful festivities–which cause my brother-in-law to sing, at the top of his lungs, “It’s the MOST wonderful time of the year!”–don’t really start until a week from today. But on Saturday, campers are movin’! A lucky contingency gets to experience a weekend of debauchery as they pull the campers (about 30 of them in our group) into “Farmer’s Field” for two nights of craziness before lining up on the Interstate to file into official Jamboree campgrounds for the best spots on Monday, July 12.

Debauchery, Exhibit A. Brother Jon and cousin Jared makin’ it happen!

But really, what could be a bad spot, with a group like mine? Are you with me, all my sisters and brothers? Looks like we’ve got ourselves another… Jamboree in the Hills!!!