Since we ended up spending our vacation in June visiting my sick mother in law, we promised the kids a camping trip to make up for it before the summer was over. So, we just spent three days up in the beautiful Blue Ridge Mountains taking a much needed break from the real world.
I had never gone camping before I met my husband. The idea of sleeping on the ground with nothing more than a few millimeters of nylon fabric between me and the wild was never very appealing. I don't squat against trees and I have an innate need to wash every day. So, camping would not have been my vacation of choice. And then I met a man who loves nothing more than sitting under a tree around a fire reading a magazine and enjoying the fresh air around him. Needless to say I pretended the idea of camping sounded like fun!
I have only two requirements- a toilet with a roof and walls around it and a place to shower. I don't even care if it is an outhouse and a cold creek, I just have to have those two things available to me or I can't do it. I even seem to lose my intense dislike for bugs and dirt when I go camping as long as there is a toilet and water available to me!
The campground we chose was pretty simple. Treed tent lots, a pole with some outlets on it for a radio and a well pump with a faucet on it to rinse dishes or what ever. This place did have a nice clean bathroom with hot showers which of course made me happy(!) and a small inground, six foot deep pool which made us all happy. A long hot summer without the use of our own pool (a side rusted and collapsed last summer) has been a difficult thing to contend with so we were very excited to find this little piece of paradise in the middle of the mountains.
We spent alot of time reading and playing catch with the kids. I brought along my lap top to do a little writing- I always write best when we camp- and the boys played with dirt and twigs and rocks. It was very relaxing. Even the trip we took along the Blue Ridge Parkway was phenomenal with its mountian views and leafy trees we hadn't seen much of since leaving New Englad seven years ago.
Essentially it was a back to the basics sort of weekend- spending quality time together without committments, televisions or any of the many other distractions life always seems to offer. We came back home tan from all the swimming and relaxed from all the sitting around just in time to jump into a whirlwind of activity over the next couple of weeks before returning to school in September.
I know that camping isn't for everyone but I truely believe everyone should give it a try. There is nothing like the serenade of crickets and cicadas as you drift off to sleep each night. The beauty of the landscape is never tiresome and the night sky never looked so amazing as it does against a bright campfire. Camping is good for the soul.
We can't afford big summer vacations every year to Disney or the Bahamas but we do our best to take the boys camping at least once each summer. I believe it is essential for little boys to learn skills such as building and lighting a fire as well as fire safety. They should know how to handle a fishing line and to tell the difference between safe and poison berries and how to avoide rock piles where rattlers and other snakes may make their homes. Actually, I believe that ALL children should learn these things- boys and girls. The quality time is priceless and the skills are important.
You don't need to spend loads of money to build a realtionship with your children. All they really want is your time. For a three day all inclusive trip to the mountains we spent less than one day at Disney would have cost us.
Now don't get me wrong. We want to take our kids to Disney World and one day we will. But what we want most is to foster a relationship with our boys that includes love, trust, approval and comfort while teaching them to be productive members of society who will one day raise children of their own.
Kids remember how they felt, not how much money was spent. I'd like to get to Disney a first time lol
ReplyDelete