When my husband said to me the other day, “let’s go camping with the kids this weekend”, I almost fell over. Are you serious? I took Nathan camping a year ago ms he didn’t stop talking about it for a few months. But we’ve never take my girly-girl and I was a little hesitant to try anything new with all the stuff going on right now. But I agreed and off we went this afternoon.
Now, setting up the North Face tent that my husband treasures more than life itself with two kids who were very eager to “help” was more than a feat of patience. Then off to swim and returned to enjoy dinner and good old s’mores.
Let’s discuss the s’mores for a moment. I love the marshmellow toasted lightly brown, non burnt edges, smooshed between three small piece of Hershey’s chocolate and grah crackers. I get the lightly toasted skill set from my mom, thank you Mom. My kids like to light fire to the marshmallow on the stick only then to refuse to eat it. What do they want? A plain marshmallow. That’s it. Wow…speechless camper here.
But the best part was putting them to sleep. Laughter, tackling, glow sticks being hung from the top of the tent and swinging. “I have baby on my hands, don’t touch me!” to “mana manah, sing it Samantha…”. These are the moments that bring tears to my eyes. Even the part when my parents told us to be quiet three times!
Thank you to our parents for teaching is the importance of camping with children and here’s to the 30th mother-daughter trip we learned about from a passing stranger. Memories are important, more than anything else….solidifying my decision to simplify was the right one.