A Camping We Will Go...

When I was growing up, there were moments when it felt like we lived at the lake.

I remember loving it.

And hating it.

It depended on the year...or the weekend...and more importantly, what fun I thought I might be missing back home, and, if I was allowed to take a friend along with me for the weekend.

I learned a lot at the lake....like what it was like to grow up in an all-male world.  My family usually camped with one or two other families, and everyone had boys.  Lots of boys.  Usually this was infuriating, but in the end, they ended up becoming good friends or protective older "brothers".

Growing up with all of these boys must have been God's way of preparing me for only having sons.

It also may have been His way to teach me to cut loose a bit....like riding dirt bikes down the boat ramps and flipping over the handlebars into the lake, all while being on the look-out to make sure the park rangers never caught us.  That has to be one of my favorite camping memories.

My childhood is full of these kinds of stories.

However, junior high consisted mostly of me whining about being dragged to the lake AGAIN.

High school found me finally old enough to stay home and avoid that camping nonsense altogether.

Now here I am, married with children....and back at the lake in a camper of my own.

I am sure my father is shaking his head in amazement.

My boys have grown up visiting grandpa and grandma at the lake, and begging for weekend trips as much as we can fit them in.  There is no way to describe their love for it other than that....THEY.LOVE.IT.  Three summers ago we borrowed my parent's camper and went out for a 4-day weekend around the 4th of July.  It rained nonstop.  (Proof here.)  We mentioned a few times (close to 50) that we should probably just head home.  They begged and pleaded to stay in the pouring down rain.  No way were they willing to cut their camping trip short.  I have no idea why riding a bike or playing a game is so much more fun at the lake, but apparently it is.

Even the food tastes better at the lake.  Just ask anyone who camps.

So last August we decided we had already taken too much advantage of mom and dad, and we set out to find a camper of our own.

And I have to admit....I love it.  We have been out a couple of times this summer, and are planning an extended 'vacation' in the near future.

I really enjoy the quiet....
....and the scenery.
....and the jet-skiing.
....and the campfires.

But most of all, I enjoy the family time. Together-time. Talk-time.

No technology. No meetings to go to. No house to clean. No laundry to do (not at that moment, anyway!). Nowhere to rush off to.

It's peaceful.

...And I fully understand that I may feel differently about all of this after spending 6 straight days together in what could quickly feel like a little metal box.   

But, until then, I am going to stick with 'peaceful'.