Summer Time Fun in the Robbins Nest

Hello All!
It took me a while to figure out how to post, but hey here I am, and I am using blue because blue makes me think of summer and boys.
We have managed our first camping trip, our first trip to the lake, our first trip to Popham Beach, and our first vacation with our friends the Bryants with our boy. I will just share a bit of what it was like for our family.

Camping reminds me of the color of green and grass, thus the green. We went to Lamoine State Park near Bar Harbor for our trip. Daniel slept so well the first night of our adventure, I thought I had brought along a different child. He is not known for stellar sleep habits, and if my personality in any way depended on sleep I would be a complete shrew. I choose to be nice. But, we thought, hey it is the great outdoors, fresh air for hours on end, and the crib mattress placed between our 2 queen mattresses in the tent went well, aptly placed. However, night 2 dawned in our LLBean tent, and it did not matter that we had spent all day out doors, playing, crawling, getting wet, and walking about the campground. Let's just say we all were ready to pack it up at about 3 a.m. after the 5th wake up. We all stumbled out of the tent in the a.m., bacon and camp coffee not even doing the trick, ready to head home. But then, Carl asked me what I thought, he was good either way, and I said, if we go home now, this will be our final memory and we won't be able to talk these girls into going ever again, even with a $100 bribe. The night is paid for, let's just do it. And am I glad we did. It went awesome, so well in fact, Carl and I wanted to stay longer, but with 2 teenagers, ready to get back to civilization, we headed home after spending the day at Echo Lake.

A couple of things this taught all of us:

1. Mom does not have it easy
2. Daniel does fuss
3. Camping brings us closer together
4. Carl's purchase for Daniel of a gated yard at a yard sale for $2 bucks came in really handy!
5. We do want to camp together again and again and again

I once heard in one of our marriage classes based on a book from Gary Smalley that he believed camping is the single most important family experience that is necessary for a good marriage and good family time. He went on to describe how incredibly different each of his family members were, how they had felt about camping, and then had each person talk about how it changed them. I remember thinking at the time, there is no way you are going to get this glamour girl any where near a tent, let alone the thought of going without a shower, the potential of bugs, rain, isolation, dirt, etc. I thought he was nuts!. I had far more appreciation for my hair, my clothes, how would I go without mascara? Plus, could you smell if you went camping???? Are you getting the picture???

Here is what this glamour girl learned from camping:

1. Time with your kids becomes more and more fleeting as they grow older. You need something to force you to get away and get together.
2. If you can make it through the setting up of the campsite, the fighting of the kids the first day because they are NOT USED to being together in one space, and the first night of sleeping or lack there of, you are golden
3. Don't give up if your first experience is a rainy one. My very first camping experience was with my youth group, but we were adults. We were on an island, it rained until the last day, our tent leaked, we were all cold, but I will never forget the time with friends. The connecting. You don't get that very often, and they broke me in. Everyone had grown up with me and they kept saying, Julie, you are doing really well. They were shocked! Thanks guys!!!
4. Take a deep breath. Breath in that air. The air in the woods is like no other. Sit. Read. Be Silent. Listen to the forest talking to you. Get up first in the morning and make camp coffee and look up at the sky through the tree leaves and really look UP! The beauty is amazing!

I am the last person who ever thought she would fall in love with camping. I was raised in the house with no dirt, as my sister and I lovingly call it. And we are really serious. Not a shoe has been worn ever in my mother's house. For real. We were taught we were sugar, and we would melt in the rain. Bugs were as close to Satan as we could get. I am not joking!
So, if I can fall in love, anyone can.
I am very glad my husband got us into this. I am very glad my mind is open. I am thrilled my girls know how to set up a tent with all the fixins, and can be glamorous, smart, and play a good round of rummy. I am glad my boy will have this experience, and because the girls will be out sooner than I would like, we can bring a friend or 2 of Daniel's with us when we camp when he is older. In the beginning God did not make houses, He made the Heavens and the Earth. For us to enjoy and breathe in and get caught up in.

We are planning another camping trip for this summer. Carl's goal was for us to experience all the state parks before Kristen graduates and we are down to 2. Yeah!
Happy Summer All!

I am blessed in this nest!
Julie