The Camping Trip

The funny thing about being a mom is that even when you are at the end of your rope, you think you can't possibly do this "mom thing" for one more minute, and you finally reach escape velocity and have a few precious minutes, hours, or days away...you can't stop thinking about your kids.

I'm on day 3 of my eagerly anticipated, all-expense-paid getaway to the magical land of Bowling Green, Kentucky! Tonight after 7 hours of class and a 2 hour long banquet, I prepared to settle into my luxurious dorm room suite to decompress. Just as I got comfy, a text arrived from my amazing parents who are watching the wild ones for the week. I opened the text to find this...

"The whole gang doing T25"

 

End scene.

 

For the past hour I have been missing these little creatures like mad - thinking about how much I would love to be there watching this hilarity. Brad introduced the kiddos to T25 a few weeks ago, and at first the Pirate was the only one interested in working out with the daddio. The Crown Prince was more interested in using dad's smartphone to monitor the number of steps daddy had taken that day. Bob...well let's just say Bob was getting a fine workout beating the daylights out of Brad and yelling "put it DOWN" every time Brad lifted his arms as he made his way through the video.

 

But as all kids do, as soon as you think you have them figured out, they change the rules. Evidently the Crown Prince had Brad download T25 to my mom's laptop before he dropped them off on Monday, and they have been doing T25 as a tribe EVERY.SINGLE.DAY. this week.

 

I love those crazy kids.

 

The school year can be hectic with little time to spend with the crazies, so the first week of June we ran away from home to embark on our first EVER camping trip. (Confession: I did camp in my neighbor's backyard when I was 7? 8? not sure - but I made it less than 30 minutes before I saw a spider in the tent and fled to the safety of my bedroom.) Naturally, since we'd NEVER been camping before AND we were taking 3 kids under the age of 7 - we chose to do so at the beach...in June.

 

We learned three important lesson very quickly.

 

1. Leave the car running when using your headlights to illuminate your late arrival tent setup. Doing otherwise will "probably" kill the battery on your swagger wagon.

 

2. Remember Rule #1 on Day 2...it still applies.

 

3. Get a bigger tent...and a fan...

 

 

There were many lessons that followed...including...

 

4. Bestow lavish praise on your husband for having the forethought to not only buy a canopy but also bring the laptop (and said laptop charger) fully loaded with strategically chosen animated movies lest the sky should open up in a torrential downpour on Day 3.

 

 

 





But perhaps the two most important lessons I learned as a mom had to do with photography.

5. Hand the camera to someone else and smile!

6. Then put the camera away!

As Directory of Photography and Cinematography in the Hinds-Brown household, I find I'm not in a lot of pictures. I am just as guilty as the next parent of living my life through my camera. I panic - like full out physically reaction - when something "cute" or "funny" happens and I realize I don't have a camera or phone on hand to document the event for posterity. Then I wonder why I can't remember things very well! I have a hard time remembering the Crown Prince's Pre-K graduation, the Pirate's babyhood, or if I fed Bob last week because I spent so much time "recording" them.

While I'm not sure how soon we will be taking another camping trip, I can tell you this - this was the best family vacation we've ever taken. Brad and I laughed like we haven't in years. The kiddos each got some "date" time with Mom and Dad. I watched my wild ones destroy sand cliffs together, plot out adventures through the woods to the bathhouse (always fun...), and laugh themselves silly over a squirrel stealing a pancake off the griddle.

And only one child "may" have ingested a jellyfish.

I will always treasure actually seeing the Crown Prince swim for the first time as he donned his snorkel and paddled around the lagoon. I will cherish the sound of the Pirate's laughter as she ate a "green slime" (?!?!) snow cone on our last day. I am grateful for the memory of Bob's sandy little hand in mine as we walked up the steps to the boardwalk and the gleam in his eye after he chased his first seagull.  It's amazing to see your children respond when you stop asking them to pose for a picture and allow them to just BE with you there by their side.

Only 2 more days until I'm there by their side again. Until then - I think I'll settle into these plush accommodations and enjoy my quiet night. Only 2 days left, after all!