10 days camping. That is a record for our family yet! And these were 10 of the hottest, sunniest days we have seen all year. Jam-packed days full of sunshine, fun, family and friends – about 50 of them over 2 campgrounds and 8 campsites!
As is typically the case with family vacations (IE vacations with kids :D), they translate to more work than anything else.
I am so grateful for a husband who works tirelessly, without complaint, so he can accompany his wife and children on a family vacation he doesn’t even really enjoy that much. Even though he has camped for all of his life, he doesn’t like it. (** EDIT – Ok, this sounds super negative, which is not how I want it to come across. In reality, Tim enjoys camping because we do and because it’s family time and he gets vacation. I felt I should clarify this since camping isn’t his #1 choice for family vacations, but he DOES enjoy the time we spend :D**)
Now THAT is true self-sacrifice.
It wasn’t very relaxing. We didn’t sleep well, between a massive rainstorm one night, constant visits from raccoons, and the occasional visit from a black bear. We went to bed late.
Big Boy and Keekers contracted a bug of some sort. I was bitten by a horsefly and while I normally get a welt, my whole leg from knee to ankle swelled up and was sore.
We spent more time with my husband’s family in the past 10 days (and 1 family in particular who lives about 2 hours from us and has young cousins for our kiddos to play with!) than we do all year combined (almost).
We spent time at the beach – in the water and lazing around in the shade (some of us were very careful about sunburns, others not so much :D).
We spent time at the camp sites, swatting mosquitoes and swapping conversations and jokes, playing bocce ball.
We saw more varieties of insects and spiders than I have ever seen in my LIFE! Not to mention other wildlife – foxes, deer of the doe and buck variety, raccoons, woodpeckers and bears (which we were fortunate enough to only hear and not see :D), minnows, snakes and tad poles.
While we were up there one of the cousins celebrated his first birthday!
Tim had a work issue to tackle while we were up there. So what did he do? Tied his phone up in a tree so he could tether his laptop to it. What a nerd! :D
We also spent good, quality time around the campfire discussing God’s word and how our lives have been changing – something we have never really done before.
All in all, the trip was a success. And while I am glad to be at home, clean and smelling less like smoke, in our own comfortable beds, with no intruders, I miss it.
