Camping, because we love to clean and pack and wash and clean!

This weekend was our season opener for camping! Our trip was perfect, except that everything went wrong.  

Our battery was dead (I admit I like to camp with heat), we forgot Michael's clothes,the kids screamed a lot, we forgot Eliza's pajamas and HER PACIFIER (seriously, first night without a paci was in the middle of the woods #fortheloveofgodstopcrying), we left 2 hours late, the kids fought, we ran out of snacks pretty fast, we had to drive back to our house mid-trip for Michael's clothing and a new battery only to find out that our thermostat wasn't working either, the kids cried, it rained, and because Brooks never thinks before he does, he ran out of clothes really fast. 

The thing is, camping and traveling with kids isn't always rewarding.  There are times when you want to punch yourself in the face because everything is going to shit. The part that people often forget, is that the kids don't know that.  The kids don't know when stuff isn't going as planned.  All my kids knew was that we had a solitary camping site with a stream to swim in and tons of trees to kick and knock over.

My boys stop and say "I love you mom and dad," whenever they are having the time of their lives.  While we were camping, they said this countless times; mid jumping in the stream, Brooks shouted how much he loved us, as he was kicking down a dead tree, Beckett paused to say he loved us, and Lizie would stop mid chasing her brothers to come in for a deep hug. Over and over again, our kids told us how much fun they were having without uttering those exact words.

We were in the mountains less than 48 hours. It took us two evenings to plan and pack, an entire day and half of laundry, an hour to scrub the pop-up and vehicle, and lots of busy work throughout the trip... so why do we camp?

We camp because our kids are wild souls and when we see them run through the woods and play in streams, we know they are home.

We camp because it gets us out of the house.

We camp because when camping, something about our marriage seems perfect; we have nature, beer, fire, mountains, and each other. 

We camp because those are the memories I remember most fondly from my childhood. 

We camp because our children LOVE being close to us, and one day that may end. 

We camp because our pop-up once belonged to Michael's uncle, who left this world too soon, and something about having our kids enjoy camping in his pop-up feels like Michigan and home and family.

We camp because we love Colorado, the mountains, traveling, seeing everything from the seat of our car, and feeling the ground under our feet. 

We camp for moments like this...

We do it for the same reason that any parent does anything where the work you put in is often greater than the take away... for our children.  Maybe they won't remember all of our camping trips and maybe some day they will resist our travels, but for the time being, I hope that camping leaves a positive impact on them.  I hope my children appreciate nature, that they continue to be wild and unruly, and that camping keeps us close as a family.