Camping Memories

 Our church has been doing a series called "Family Ties" calling us to remember what is truly important in raising a family and teaching children to love the Lord with all their heart, soul, and strength.  This last week Pastor Stone and his wife Elaine discussed how they strived to create memories (mostly free memories like being outdoors) with their children.  We wanted this for our family, and so we set out for our first family camping excursion into the deep woods.  Armed with bug spray and s'mores we decided that we were not going to have high expectations of exhilaration and joy, due to the fact that we had an 18month old and a testy 3 year old....but we were determined, none the less.


Both of our parents took us camping when we were growing up, and I still can remember the feel of the wet dew on the grass when I woke up early in the morning, and Doug remembers bologna sandwiches and going fishing.  We had an absolutely beautiful spot deep into the woods (no electricity, no running water, no toilets) just us for miles and miles and miles.... an awesome fire and a running river next to us, we claimed our adventure!


While it was IMPOSSIBLE to get two little kids to stop jumping around inside the tent and go to SLEEP, it was really sweet to have Addison walk back and forth and give us kisses and say "Night Night!" 20 times, and to have Hunter curl up next to me with his breath heavy on my shoulder.

2 am in the morning....the thought running through my head? "Ok, Doug! I promise I will NEVER ask you to take us camping again! This is MISERABLE!!"  but if you can just somehow get yourself to sleep a couple of hours, waking up to coffee and eggs over a Coleman grill and going rafting down the river in the morning, well, that was worth it.