Go -- Pearl Jam

5/5/12

This past weekend was the bi-annual family camping trip. I haven't stayed for the weekend in a long time. I took my Grandmother and the girls with me for the day on Saturday. It was be more fun than the time I was pregnant with Arabella. That time, Dad and I took turns carrying Addison back up the big ass hill to the campsite and that sucked.

Now that the kids are bigger, maybe Arabella can do some of her own hiking. Last time it was me and Daniel that took turns carrying her, with Joe helping Addison along. On that trip the weather was cool, and not as nice, the kids ended up with each others sweaters and one of Jessica's.

This time the weather was great, hot even, and as soon as we started our Saturday hike, the kids stopped at the first creek and got in. And they didn't want to get out. So the others hiked on without us, while Daniel, Jessica, and I watched Aiden, Addison and Arabella play in the cold creek. We eventually stripped them down and let them play naked, there was so much sand in the shallow pool of the creek where we were sitting that they decided to make small sand castles with their hands. Arabella would grab the wet sand and rub it all over her. I called it her "spa exfoliation."

When we were leaving, I hated to go but couldn't stand the thought of sleeping in a tent with Addison and Arabella. That is a new experience for which I would prefer them to be older. I think Addison would be all right, as long as you were right next to her. But as soon as I might go rejoin the circle by the fire she would be screaming, "Mommy!" at the top of her lungs. No, I think that if I ever take all the kids camping, it will be me and Jamie and we will all have a good time.

I like to go to the mountains and hike through the forests that our people lived in a long time ago. I like that there is a place that we can go to get away from everything and just relax. But I find it hard to relax when I'm chasing three kids around, so I think we will just stick to the day trips for a while.

I remember when my Mother and Aunt were there when we camped at Omie's, and it was so cold that they came in and put all the extra clothing on top of us to keep us from freezing. No thank you. I have a lot of good memories of camping as a child, but to create the lasting memories that I hope to have with my children, I want to have fun, too. So if that means waiting until Arabella is a little older to do an overnight trip, then that's what I'll do.

We will go and visit with family. And one of these days we will stay and let the kids really experience camping in the woods for two nights and three days. Dirty, but fun. I'm totally looking forward to it.