I think ladies love bucket lists. And our energy levels vary from year to year. One year, our summer adventures meant cooking hot dogs on our property most Saturdays, and it truly felt like a great accomplishment.
There is a lot of business and upkeep that needs to happen to set up the next year, all of which all can drain bandwidth for relaxation, bonding and dreaming, so its wonderful to write down a vision once it plants in your brain, don’t you think?
Have you ever woken up and your thoughts seem crystal clear in that section between sleep and wake, instead of groggy and dreamy?
At that very crack between the two worlds, the thought came to me to make 55 memories. Time would slip by, and I would have either have captured the 55 memories for the making, or I wouldn’t.
And I wanted precisely 55 memories, no less, for possibilities this impression was alluding to. That week I made time for a walk with my husband and a couple kids.
I said “Let’s do it”, when the boys asked to go to a movie starting in 10 minutes, and enjoyed that silly movie with my honey and sweet boys.
And I decided to undertake something I’ve never tried… that we would go camping instead of once per summer,
Every. other. Week.
Would I live to regret this, IF I could even pull it off?
First Camping Trip
I put out feelers with my husband and found out the best time in our week, to do this camping thing every other week.
My boys had been enjoying Outdoor Boys and I had been inspired too, I thought we’d all be so thrilled, and instead, I got loads of kickback when I announced that we would go on our first camping trip, of our every other week goal.
I don’t know if they were scared it wouldn’t really happen, that we wouldn’t find a spot to camp, or that I could pull this off without a plan 3 months ahead of time like Outdoor Boys, or what. But it was like pulling teeth, and I felt like I was dragging 6 pieces of pure led by my pinky finger to nature.
For some reason, I was Certain. I knew. I knew. I knew it was just what we needed, each of us. And that every single boy would be in pure bliss as soon as their feet hit the dirt and started unbundling their tent and sleeping bags. And I went forward with an iron will, confidence, and skills I’ve gained from experience.
I’ve ridden this pony for 22 years, as we have gone camping with our oldest when she was a baby, and every summer forward one camp out each, so I grabbed all the things, there wasn’t a single thing I forgot, even under that much opposition.
My hubby went forward and saved us a spot with the younger boys, setting up the big tent. I pulled up the rear with the rest of the gear.
I cooked one-tray-dinner at the house that I learned how to bake with The Dr.’s Kitchen. No cooking and waiting for food, for us!!
I grabbed our current oldest from work and though it was a bit late, the summer is forgiving and we enjoyed the lightly blued sky of an early evening and forward, and the kids were all a buzz. The grumbles in our car on the way over, turned immediately to laughter, running, gathering sticks, exploring boys, building a fort, crossing bridges across the gentle flowing river, and “Mom, let me show you this trail! And this cool spot!!” just as soon as I arrived.
Our hearty mix of garlic roasted olive oiled potatoes, broccoli, onion sauteed in sausage, some sweet potato to replace the carrot courtesy of my husband, was a hit and everyone was filling their belly with the cleansing sounds of river and nature. We’d brought Himalayan salt and they all sprinkled their food amply and enjoyed every morsel.
We hadn’t grabbed smores and it was interesting that we didn’t need a dessert to have fun. We enjoyed some camp song singing, and for some reason, our one year old went to bed like a dream, the kids were good and tired and when we called bedtime, they filed in the tent and in moments it was quiet. I think this was a bit of a huge miracle and a gift from God. I will take it.
My man and I sat by the fire. I thought about how I’d love to jump into the hot coals and warm up, as I have always daydreamed of, and instead I put my feet super close as I could and looked up at the stars and remembered how my dad used to tell me about the constellations.
My man bought me a bed topper that was supposed to absorb bed kicking and it didn’t work. We had planned to return it but without the right size of box, instead we bought a duffel bag to fit it with plans for it to be our camping mattress. I put sheets on it and we headed to bed.
Just before I left for the trip, I had quickly made some impromptu sourdough bread by mixing my started with water and flour to a descent consistency, and grabbed maple syrup to pour on it for a monkey bread for our breakfast.
I awoke around 3 am, needing to pee. I shaped my rolls into the dutch oven for their second rise and luckily was back asleep in an hour.
In the morning, my boys had cross country, hubby took them and I took baby for a nice walk and enjoyed the nature with hubby there to greet me upon my arrival, he had packed up the tent and sleeping bags with the kids, leaving me with hot coals cooking my dutch oven meal.
The boys had grated the few cooked left over potatoes I brought to make pre-breakfast hash-browns, and they had eaten the few left over muffins I had brought also to tame the hungry belly awaiting the campfire cooked dutch oven meal, and that was fun to see them fry up the last helpings. We had a campfire “tea-party” as our monkey bread finished up.
The kids were excited and invigorated over our campfire cuisine, and forgiving that it came out a touch dry due to the novelty! 🙂
A special bonus on the way out, was one child told me that they had “found the perfect meditation spot for me.” What a heavenly moment I had taking a meditation moment my little son had helped me carve out.
What I was super proud of and what I think, has enabled me to think we could do this again soon, was that during the whole drive home, I divided what each child should put away according to age and capability, we reviewed, and made a goal to beat our time each time. We had everything put away I had assigned in 48 minutes, and then it was maybe an hour after that getting some things to their actual spot, and the few extras I’d forgotten. So about 2 1/2 hours to have a camp out totally cleaned up after was unheard of for me. We are talking things not put away for months for the emotional energy it took to pack and camp, was too big to address the clean up for me, I guess, the 22 years of camp outs before
This new dimension of ability within myself to create bigger goals with better wherewithal to keep it sustainable, I attribute to my Wild and Free group, my hard core, soft hearted ladies who always have it in them to set up an adventure with their friends and for their children, and these adventures so often include a campfire and a tea pot!
So feel free to keep joining me or others that refresh and invigorate you, because who you surround yourself with, matters!
I hope you, my friend, will be given just a titch more synergy to pull yourself out of the enormity of anxiety that mounts before school starts up, and that you can keep flowing and squeeze in, what you really love and floats your boat!! I am praying for you right now, to be invigorated and empowered above the Tide, that you can sail over it with spark and spirit!!
YOU ROCK!!!