Tree Hugger

I have some weird camping blood in my body and it didn't come from my immediate family.  When I was 15 years old I started working at a camp for children with special needs.  And I worked there for the next 11 years.  I grew to love the outdoors and found that I was in my element while camping in the woods.  I fell in love with the smells and sights of nature.  So now I carry on the tradition to my children.  So far they love camping too.  I am slowly turning Dan into a camper. 

Memorial Day weekend proved to be absolutely beautiful with blue skies and perfect temperatures.  So we packed up Saturday evening and found a campsite a half hour from home.  That seems to be the perfect distance with the kids being younger.  Once they are older we can venture to some new places.  But for now, we go down for the evening, have s'mores, let them play for a few hours, and go home early in the morning.  We found a place with a playground and a small lake so the kids had plenty to do.  My favorite part about these short trips is spending time with Dan.  We are not on our cell phones or the IPad and we can talk for hours.  This time is precious and sweet for us.  And we thoroughly enjoyed watching our happy kids enjoy the outdoors.  When we arrived, Chloe acted like we gave her a tremendous amount of freedom and she did somersaults all over the camp site.  She was so happy to NOT have tight boundaries.....which we give her quite often.  The evening was enjoyable and the kids went to bed around 9:30.  Dan and I went to bed about an hour later and realized we were laying on a slight hill.  We tried and tried to get comfortable, but it wasn't working very well.  We stuck it out into early morning and decided our sleep was pretty important.  So we packed everyone up in speedy time and drove home to our soft beds.  We have decided it is time for an air mattress for us.  The kids are looking forward to some more camping trips in the near future.