Not only have I slowed done on blogging, but it has also been awhile since I have shared a family post. Several times over the last couple of weeks I have revisited old blog posts. I have come to a couple of conclusions. I will spare you the ones that effect my self-esteem. I will share with you the positive "hey I miss that" and "why don't I do that anymore" thoughts.
First. I was a little more personal and a bit more witty. I am not sure why I have gotten away from being more personal. I had trouble deciding what people really wanted to read and questioned if I should be more profesh and less personal. I obviously didn't really enjoy it too much, because I have really not blogged consistently for a year or more. Come to find out it is hard to share oneself when you are not really sharing about yourself.
Second. With the lack of that whole being myself thing, I have steered away from sharing with you the things we do in our everyday life. Adventurous and otherwise. Right there is another contributing factor to my lack of blogging. My life has been a lot more full of the day to day. I still do lots of creating, decorating, cooking and all of the stuff I used to blog about. I just don't always have time to document it or blog about it (AKA stay up late to write. I have become a lot more fond of sleep.).
That is a long introduction to this post. Basically, today I am sharing some family adventures. In the past I have called these kind of posts
In a Nutshell or
At a Glimpse. When we moved here we decided that eventually we wanted to become a camping family.
Several years later, older kids, and one pop up camper we are finally brave enough to embark on the wonderful world of camping.
Last week we went camping. Like camping for more than just overnight.
From a recommendation, we settled on camping in an area of the Sawtooth Mountains. A lovely little piece of paradise called Redfish Lake.
I was really nervous to venture on almost a full week of camping. With some list making and a whole lot of prep, the camping trip was an easy peasy success.
There is pretty much something magical about sitting around a campfire either early in the morning or into the night. So magical that you can almost overlook the lingering smell of campfire on all of your clothes.
Campfire is not only magical to sit by, but we found it can also cook up some pretty good food. Breakfast was by far our most successful campfire meals. I am not much of a breakfast person and so that means that I don't really cook a lot of it at home.
I busted out all the stops for this camping trip. Man the eggs, hash browns, and sausage were glorious. I pretty much inhaled them.
No matter how good that breakfast was, there is just no comparison to the next morning of campfire donuts.
Donuts. People.
I have made campfire donuts before and simply dusted them with cinnamon sugar. They were DELIGHTFUL. Someone who should remain nameless (ehem...me...) forgot to pack the cinnamon sugar. So I thought a little outside of the box, and rummaged through what we had.
Pie filling and melted chocolate go a long way on a donut.
They filled our bellies and got us all ready to spend a day on a boat. Our boys were so excited to rent a boat. Someone also thought it would be alright to let all the boys drive the boat.
Sometimes with assistance.
Sometimes with out said assistance. Did I mention I was not the someone who okayed all this boys-drive-the-boat nonsense?
There was plenty of time to stop the boat and enjoy the shoreline.
Not so much the actual water. It was a little overcast and chilly. Well Oldest got in. The rest of us chose to only flirt with getting in.
We flirted with danger by walking on this log.
Don't worry none of us fell in. We have skills like that.
Mostly we just enjoyed hanging out and eating lunch in the boat.
Since we could only rent a boat, we spent more time on land than on water. Good thing the land around us was spectacular.
I pretty much love hiking in a green and glorious forest. Especially a forest surrounded by a little bit of water.
There was one whole day of rain. We stayed in the camper or really close to it. We played some games. Bean even took a little nap.
Then the skies cleared.
Amazing.
We played. We hiked. We were loud. We were unplugged. We were dirty. We were a little tired at the end. Some more than others.
Six pair of happy, tired feet headed back home. There were many declarations of happiness. All of the boys requested that we come back to this place every year. We even drove around the campsite looking for other sites we might want to reserve for next year.
On the way home, Bean requested that we go right back to camping. My lack of showering for three days immediately vetoed that. I am not sure I have ever gone that long with out showering. No one else seemed to mind. So I let it go.
That is what camping will do for you. Let things go. Let schedules go. Let manners go. Let it go.
Let it go and make yourself some memories. Go camping.