Trial Run

I wish I were one of those "my kids can't slow me down" outdoorsy types. You know--the kind who hike with a kid on Dad's back and all the camping gear on Mom's back. ('Cause in our case all the camping gear would weigh less than the kid.) The kind who know all the best trails and can cook a meal over a fire with little more than a stick and some tinfoil.

But we've typically been more of the "we can't go on vacation unless our entire family comes with us to help us with our kids" types. Because, seriously, for a mom, going on vacation is more work than staying home. Between planning the trip and executing the meals and bringing everything you might possibly need for any situation, how are moms supposed to enjoy themselves? Do I not get vacations anymore? Man, motherhood still hasn't kicked all the selfish out of me. I mean, it's beat me down pretty hard, but I do still want me a vacation.

But I digress....

Despite all the hard work that I saw being put into our recent quasi-camping experience (we were in a "rustic cabin"), our trip to Mackinaw inspired me. Especially our hike at Tahquamenon Falls. Being outdoors, especially in that fresh, northern pine forest outdoors, really rejuvenates me. And the boys did better than feared expected sleeping in the cabin and surviving on a crazy schedule.

I kept thinking, "Maybe we could do this whole camping thing now." I talked to the fam about what we'd need and how we could do it. Some were more encouraging than others about us city folk hitting the state parks. I told my mom, "We have two tents..." and she said, "Yeah, and you'll be too tense!" (Nice pun, Mom.)

I remembered that my friend Emily and her family had camped in their backyard earlier this summer, so we decided to dig our tent out of storage last weekend and give it a try.

We had so much fun!

I didn't take very many pictures because our new camera is still broken, but our activities included hot dogs and baked potatoes cooked in the fire (with sticks and tinfoil!) and eaten with good friends, running and jumping in the tent like crazy people (the kids, not us), staying up way past bedtime, and then sleeping soundly through the night (again, the kids, not us)! Although Zach and I were totally pooped the entire next day, the adventure and proving to ourselves that it could be done were totally worth it.

The boys were pretending to sleep when we first got their beds set up.
Later we set up a bed for Z and I--we were crammed, but it worked.

Anders getting sleepy by the fire.

My next step is convincing Zach that we can handle (and it would be worth it) camping one night not too far from home, but a little farther than our own lawn.