Life and Motherhood: Our First Time Camping with the Boys

(Written last Friday)

Yesterday Chris and I took the boys camping! It was our first go at it and overall a success!

I don't even know if this will make sense, but sometimes it still feels surreal that I'm a parent. Of course I know I'm a parent and co-responsible for these five little boys, I'm reminded of that every day they wake us up demanding food and attention. But on occasion, we'll be doing something and it will hit me in a more sentimental way that, "I am a Mommy! Chris and I, we have a family together!" It's kind of crazy. Yesterday was one of those moments. You see, I grew up camping. My parents took us camping in a pop-up camper all over Michigan and we loved it. We loved camping as a family and I truly have the most wonderful memories of our time together. In fact, the last time I really camped, was as a kid, with my parents and my brothers.

And here I was again, camping. With my own family.

And they were loving it too.

It was kind of a full circle moment, in a good way.

We let the boys eat as many s'mores as they could cook up and wanted. Chris and I just sat back and watched them enjoy it all. (And chased Owen around)

We set up the tent (a birthday present for all the boys from my brother Gavin- thanks uncle G!) with all their little cots and sleeping bags. They were so excited about the whole process and went to bed really well. All except for Owen. Owen didn't sleep hardly at all and in turn, I didn't! I'm sure he was just confused and unsure of the new surroundings. He was sound asleep at 6 a.m. though..... just when the other boys were waking up. Bright and early! So today was a major coffee day, I'll put it that way.

Still, SO worth it! I'm pretty convinced that there's nothing more relaxing or centering than sitting by a campfire late into the evening.

We put the boys to bed and then Chris and I sat by the fire. Soon we heard a little voice from the tent. It was Colin and he wasn't tired, even though it was already 9:30. So we brought him out and I held him on my lap as we watched the fire. He could not believe all the stars in the sky and it struck me that he's never really had an opportunity to sit and stare at a star filled sky because usually, he's in bed. Not last night. We answered his questions about stars and satellites and the space station. Then we chatted about kindergarten and how big he's getting.

That's what I've always loved about camping. It forces you to slow down, be present and do things a little differently.

I'm sorry if this all sounds cheesy or if I'm making camping out to be cooler than it really is. But seriously, we have felt a little housebound with all these babies, the past 3+ years and it felt SO GOOD to get out and be able successfully do something like this- overnight! We weren't sure if it would be successful or a disaster, and it surpassed our expectations. It makes us look forward to all the wonderful memories we're going to make camping together.

Watch out Michigan, we've got a tent and we're ready to go!