The Great Outdoors

Growing up, "camping" was staying in a cabin for a week in Wisconsin Dells. Mom packed lots of food, Eric and I packed our swim suits (and maybe a few outfits) and Dad drove us all to our resort. Grandma even came with us most years, teaching us how to fish. Eric enjoyed it much more than I did. I preferred to swim at the beach with my vacation friend. Every night we roasted marshmallows around a campfire at the resort. That's camping, right?

Meeting Derek changed my definition of camping. Being so in love, I agreed to go camping with him for a few nights of our honeymoon. Notice I didn't agree to every night. We set up a tent and roasted hot dogs over a campfire. I quickly learned how my cabin in the Dells was drastically different from camping. Time went by and we went on a few more camping trips. We learned not to camp over Memorial Day weekend. I learned how to camp with a toddler. I also learned I didn't like it very much. Zipping up my sleeping bag (and failing) while 7 months pregnant with son #2 was all I could handle. No more tent camping for this girl.

Derek's been dreaming of buying a camper for a few years now. He thinks I will enjoy camping again if we have a camper. Maybe I would. But for now, I'm quite happy to let him camp with our boys. He knew my "camping" experience when he married me, and once a cabin-in-a-resort-girl, always a cabin-in-a-resort-girl. :)

I love to ride my bike, swim in pools and lakes, and go for walks. I catch lightening bugs and ladybugs with my boys. I think I'm a pretty cool outdoorsy mom, regardless of my feelings towards camping. But at the end of all that outdoor fun, give this girl an air conditioned house and a comfy bed. The other night while letting Ginger out one last time, June bugs buzzed clumsily around my head, mosquitoes buzzed in my ear, and I couldn't wait to get back inside. The slithering snake I'd seen a few hours earlier was burned in my brain too. I always knew there were snakes in that alfalfa field, no matter how Derek tried to convince me otherwise!

All that to say, I'm raising my boys to love the outdoors. I'm also showing them it's okay to pick and choose how much to like. Or I'm showing them they can marry a resort girl like their dad did. Maybe she will agree to go camping on their honeymoon. :)

Some of the fun we're having this summer in the great outdoors. :)