Our guest blogger this month is dad John Cave Osborne. You can read more about his messes and adventures with his wife, five kids and dog at www.johncaveosborne.com.

So, wow. Here I am on Mom Moments. Only I’m a dad. Which means that when it comes to messes, I dare say I’ve got most of you moms beat. Because I’m not afraid of a little dirt. In fact, some of my favorite family pastimes involve a lot of dirt.

Like the family camping trip we took over Memorial Day weekend. That’s right. I hauled my wife, my ten-year-old and my four-year-old triplets to a picturesque site on a remote mountain lake in western North Carolina which is accessible only by boat.

And we had an absolute blast. It was the triplets’ first camping trip, and I was a little worried how they’d do. But I shouldn’t have been. They made it through both nights, no problem. Their only regret was that the trip didn’t last longer, as they loved every minute of it! They even coined the perfect nickname for my favorite campsite: Treasure Island. My oldest had a blast, too. And while it wasn’t her maiden voyage into the wild, it was her first time on a rope swing. And second. And third. And fourth…

The entire weekend was a gigantic success. And a gigantic mess. After the trip we threw load after load of clothes in the laundry, tried to scrape the dirt from the car floors and got our gear ready for the next camping adventure. Just as I had done before the trip, I disinfected our coolers with the help of Clorox Bleach. It’s a piece of cake. You just mix ¾ cup of Clorox Regular liquid bleach per gallon of soapy water and thoroughly wash the cooler. Then let it stand for five minutes or so before rinsing and drying, and BOOM, you’re done.

The end result is a 100% sanitary vessel which kept our food fresh and clean while my family and I kept ourselves anything but! 

So, yeah, I don’t mind getting down and dirty with the fam. Especially with Clorox there to back me up. Because, seriously. Dirt’s one thing. But there’s no need to get gross, y’all.