Family memories

We took our kids camping for the very first time this weekend. Baby Girl is four and Baby Boy is two so obviously we haven't been in a big hurry. I'm not an avid camper, so wasn't eager to pack my infants up and take them to the great outdoors where we would all get dirty and eat lukewarm food for the weekend....unlike a few friends I have who are happy to take their 4-week old baby camping. I digress. This year, we decided we were ready to start. Baby Boy is walking now and ready to run around with his sister. We have the monster 6 man tent - the one you can stand up and have a rave in, so we were set for space. The rest of the gear is pretty minimal, but we decided to hook up with a couple other families and go out together to share in meals and gear. Our ambitions were low. Our destination only 20 minutes out of town to a local family campground.

It was great. There were three families - all three with a four year old and two year old. The kids all got along well. You know, there were the odd "moments" of sharing wars or "you're not my friend anymore" but for the most part the kids played well. On more than one occasion, all six adults sat down at the picnic table and ate a meal together. We all relaxed our bedtime routines and the kids went to bed fairly easy given some extra time to run around. Once in bed, the adults reverted to our own youthful selves, drinking copious amounts of alcohol, burning large cardboard boxes, talking about who our "top three men/women to sleep with" would be. We spent hours down at the beach, playing in the sand, reading trashy magazines, cooling off in the lake. The hardest part has been coming home. We're all exhausted, dirty, hot and cranky. It's pizza for supper tonight - no meal preparation for these parents. But the cranky kids at home is well worth the weekend of fun. Camping is definitely on our family to do list now. Amazing what getting out of town only 20 minutes down the road can do for family bonding.