Weight: 152.0
Yes, I am getting ready to leave town, again! But this time it is with my husband (the last two were solo trips) and we are going camping. With five of our grandchildren. Ages 3 to 12. Yes, it will be an adventure.
Now, when I say camping, I mean car camping. We have reserved two campsites at Golden Gate Canyon State Park in Colorado. If you are familiar with State Parks vs. National Parks, when it comes to camping, you already know that State Parks tend to be more improved. We'll have access to showers and toilets and water. We'll be in a campground with many other campers, probably including a lot of children. This is relatively easy camping.
We are camping in tents and I will do all of our cooking on either a portable stove or the campfire. The last time we did this one of the kids' favorite meals was chocolate chip pancakes. I doubt much has changed since then! On our last camping trip one of our girls was quite impressed that I would cook her eggs any way she wanted them. We'll see if that impresses, again.
This weekend is our big prep weekend. We had quite the shopping trip yesterday, buying the things that have worn out or the things we wish we had last time we went camping. I got a new stove, a couple of new cast iron skillets (I am in the process of testing out cast iron for most of my cooking and I think I am liking it), and various sundries such as fire starter (totaling cheating, but I don't care, I have an injured husband), hot dog cookers for the kids (one night has to be a hot dog and smores night, healthy food only gets you so far in life), and plenty of batteries. Today we need to blow up the air mattresses and find out which ones still hold air. We have a little more shopping to do today, after kickball, then we'll be on to the next step of prepping.
For some people, their favorite vacation is going to a resort where they can relax and have their every need taken care of by someone else. I get that, kind-of-sort-of. For me, my favorite vacation is camping. Most of my camping has been car camping. Someday I'd like to do more backpacking, but for now, car camping is just fine. I love being outdoors all day and all night. I don't like hotels and resorts very much at all. When I'm in a hotel or a resort I don't feel like I am experiencing the place I am in. When I am camping I am right in the middle of it, enjoying what Mother Nature has created for us. That is what I love the best.
It is a blast, a treat, and an honor to be able to share this with our grandchildren. Yes, it's a lot of work. I'm not going to lie to you, by the end of the week I will be exhausted. But I'll be tired in a very good, satisfied, delighted sort of way. We live too far from all of our grandchildren so we visit them when we can. Their parents are awesome and visit us here in Kansas City when they can, too. As much as we love the visits, and we do love the visits, nothing compares to the occasions when Jack and I get to spend time alone with the kids. That seems to be when the real bonding happens. The kids relate to us differently and we relate to them differently. When it is just me, Jack and our grandchildren, we get to know each other so much better than we do during the brief visits. We get to truly experience whatever phase they happen to be in at the moment. We get to know their little idiosyncrasies. They get to know ours. There is something about waking up together, going to bed together, playing together, working together, having fun together and getting cranky together that strengthens the bond between us and our grandchildren. If we didn't have to work for a living, we would do this a lot more often. As it is, we squeeze these special moments in when we can.
It will be a busy five days getting ready for our big trip. I am excited to get on the road. But, I also have five days left in my challenge. Let's not forget about that!!
Have a great day! It will be a busy one for me.
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