A few days away from reality...priceless.

Due to the storm, we are still hanging out at my parents' house. The above pictures were from our newspaper's on-line photo gallery. In the first picture, you can barely see our house in the background. In the second picture, you can see the hanging power lines in front of our driveway. As of 10:00 this morning, the lines are still dangling, which presents a problem - the lines are high enough so we can drive under them, but they are too low for our camper to exit the driveway, and we are headed out this afternoon for a fun filled camping weekend. So hopefully the city will get to work on our situation, or our neighbor will be so kind to let us cut through his yard. So on to today's topic...

Our family's favorite past time is camping. Jason's family did some camping when he was a kid, but my family never did anything even close to camping. My perception of camping, therefore, was pitching a flimsy tent in a remote area and getting rained on all night and eaten alive by mosquitos. I think that is a lot of people's perception about camping, and therefore they say they don't enjoy camping (who would if that is all it was.) So when they see our camper, they tell us "That's not camping." Jason's reply, then, is "Well, then maybe you would like it." Our camping adventures started the summer Elizabeth was 2. We had no intentions of entering the camping world, but an opportunity to buy a very nice pop-up fell in our laps, and once I looked at it and realized there was more to camping than my above perception, I was ready to go. The next summer it rained EVERY SINGLE TIME we went out, which was miserable because now we had a three year old and a four month old, and we were stuck in the camper most of the time. But we perservered, and after going out six or seven times last year, we determined that we are indeed a camping family, and we were ready to make a little more of an investment in this endeavor. So we purchased a travel trailer this spring (which was really an investment, because then we had to get a different vehicle that could pull it.) We've been out three times so far, this weekend will be our fourth, and we are having no buyer's remorse and are loving every minute of it.

Some may question our camper purchase, thinking that it was a frivolous thing to buy. But this is what I think - our family has decided to make family and family time a very important priority, and this is an investment towards that decision. Even in the crisis camping times (the rain, the time we hit a deer pulling into the campground, then finding out there were no open spots, the time Anna wandered off and we couldn't find her), we have created so many great memories with our family and friends, that I think it is worth the investment. So below, I am going to list the 5 things I love most about camping:

1. The food. Sure, smores, the most famous camping food, are great, but chicken over the fire, breakfast pies, roasted hot dogs - there isn't too much out there that's better.

2. The fellowship. With the exception of just a couple of times, we always go camping with other people. This is great on so many levels - our kids have other kids to play with, it's fun to sit around the fire after the kids are in bed (everyone else's kids are always asleep, the Wuertley girls keep on partying in the camper) and talk, we share the food load, etc. etc. We are blessed to have great camping buddies.

3. The relaxation. With the exception of making/cleaning up food, what else is there to do but relax. There's no laundry, no house to clean, no errands to run. I love to sit in my reclining lawn chair by the fire and just do nothing.

4. No distractions. There is no phone, t.v. (exept the one in the kids's area, which is a lifesaver for Anna because she gets hot easy and enjoys just hanging out in the cool air and relaxing, too.) It is 100% family time, which at times can be a little much, but for the most part is great.

5. The kids love it. Some of our favorite things to do when camping are to take bike rides, hike on trails, swim, and play on the playground. It's every kid's dream. The kids can spend a lot of time outside running off energy, and they sleep really good at night.

Due to this camping trip, I will be unable to post on Saturday, thus ending my posting every day streak. I will return on Sunday, though. I'll have plenty of time to be thinking of my next post.