Camping with The Griswald's

While I LOVE nature and have spent lots of time enjoying nature, hiking, on weekend visits to our Wimberly River House, and floating the river, kayaking, or canoing, I have a dirty little secret...

I've NEVER been camping!  Seriously....

The closest we came was when my Dad bought a tent and we slept in the backyard.  I think I was 10 and we jumped every time the dog howled.  I know my brother who was a Boy Scout has been on camping trips, but somehow, I've never experienced this.  And Mike....camping once.  I think it was with his friend Dan at the Grand Canyon.  Iris & Sam have never camped.


So, when our fearless leader Melissa Rios of our Nature Club formulated the plan, I was IN!!!!  YES!  I knew I had it in me.  I was part terrified, part thrilled, and ready for the adventure.  Get ready for The Griswald's, or The Nicholson's ;)!!


In my head, my glorified day dreams of camping look like this:

{Image from finehomebuilder.com}

Isn't that a dreamy way to wake up?  Or, in my '70s dream of a carefree camping life, it looks like this:

{image from thatkindofwoman.tumbir.com}

How cute would it be to be at this little lake house?

{image from thetinylife.com}

And, these are the cool things we would do camping:

And, this is what it was:

 {melt down in the 2 man tent courtesy of 5 & 3 year olds}

And, this is what we did:

{Mike, Iris, Scout, Harlon, and John canoeing} 

 {hiking}

{hanging}

{and skipping rocks with friends.  Sam and Maya}

It was fun.  The best part for me was falling asleep with Sam looking up at the hole in the tent at the moon and talking until we fell asleep.  He talked incessantly about how he was going to talk "all night long" to his friends when he went camping, and instead he talked "all night long" with his Mom.  That makes me one happy Momma.