There's Joy in the Journey: Camping for July 4th

For a little getaway in the middle of a very busy June/July schedule for Calvin - I decided to book a three day, three night camping trip for our family over the July 4th holiday. This was part of a week long vacation for me and it seemed like the only time we would get to go camping this year if we wanted to take Kathleen for her first trip in the great outdoors.

The camp site was located on a smaller part of the lake set apart by a bridge that kept the water calm and the scenery peaceful compared to the larger part of Kerr Lake. We set up camp between rain showers on Wednesday night and put the boat in the water. Our site allowed us to tie the boat up right outside the tent so we could come a go as we pleased. We had the area all to ourselves except for the second night when a nice family of three with an 9 month old camped at the site next door for the evening out with their little one. Being on the smaller part of the lake didn't seem as exciting at first, but it proved to be a good thing when boating and swimming with our two year old. In the end, we were thankful for the "privacy" away from the crowds.

Kathleen slept very well in the tent at night. On Thursday morning she woke up announcing, "My boat, My boat, I can see my boat out the window!" Most of our three days at the lake was filled with boat riding and swimming in the lake. Kathleen enjoyed jumping off the boat into the water, and she and Daddy even swam to a "far away island" to find buried treasure on one afternoon adventure.

I did all of the food packing, but Calvin cooked all of the meals while we were there. Grits, eggs and pre-made biscuits for breakfast, gnocchi for one meal, mexican for another, pasta with tomato sauce and green beans, veggie burgers, corn on the cob and hummus round out the menu for the 9 meals packed for the trip.

No proper camping site would be complete without a campfire and roasted marshmallows at night. Kathleen only wanted one surprisingly enough. (Mommy had several) And to entertain by the campfire, Daddy told Kathleen camping stories of when he was a boy with his family. Kathleen then decided to tell Daddy a few of her own stories...and all of them ended with "and then I ran away" for some reason!

It wasn't perfect timing for our family to go camping with all that was packed onto the calendar, but I am so thankful for the time away, the beauty of nature that surrounded us, and the refocusing on spending time just the 4 us of (counting Rascal too).