Several weekends in a row Bryan took the boys camping. He tried to convince me to bring Grace and come along. I didn't want to go camping with a 18 month old. I knew what was involved. Eating dirt, falling down, and being overtired. No, thank you. I wasn't ready for camping just yet.
But, Grace cried every time her dad and brothers pulled out of the driveway. She didn't want to be left out and I couldn't resist those big crocodile tears anymore. So, we loaded the Tahoe with the boys and all our food and camping gear and headed up to the mountains.
This is my favorite picture from the weekend. Me and my kids in the Arizona mountains.
Yet, don't let this angelic picture fool you. Bryan and I will both tell you that when you take 4 children anywhere there is noise, chaos, and a lot of patience involved.
This is not the place where we went to relax, enjoy nature, and find inner peace. At some point in the weekend when everyone was whining, hungry, and overtired we looked at each other and wondered why we do this to ourselves. Why aren't we at home sitting in front of the TV or in Hawaii on a beach somewhere for that matter?
It makes me remember that moment in the car after we had everything packed up from our weekend and were ready to head home when Bryan realized that he couldn't find his wallet. The last place we remembered seeing it was the night before in the tent pocket on the side of the tent. But, the tent was all packed and we had struggled to get it up on the roof of our car and strapped safety down just moments before. At this point, there may have been some cuss words involved. So, we climbed up there again and unloaded everything and located that wallet and for the second time that day were ready to head back down to the valley.
Yet, I look back at these pictures and it becomes perfectly clear to me. These are the times that we want our children to remember. The place we spent time outside camping together.
A place when a father and his son worked together to put up a tent.
A place where we didn't get much sleep but, we were all close to each other and could hear the owls in the middle of the night.
A place where we got really dirty, ate junk food, and roasted marshmallows.
Where we went for long walks and made our own toys.
Where we found rocks to climb on and little sister had to join us also.
A place where you can find a lawn chair to snuggle up in with your Butty and sleep the afternoon away.
Memories of all the chaos fade and all I can remember is the good time we had. I'm almost ready to give camping another shot. Almost.....maybe next year.
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