Aaron is in town longer than 7 consecutive days, for probably the last time in 2012, so we went camping. It was amazing, exactly what we needed.
I accidentally booked us at this place that is basically a camping resort. I was really just looking for the next closest place that wasn’t booked already that weekend and swallowed the price, $35/night, so that we could be sure to get away as a family our one chance this year.
After getting lost and going to the wrong campground, twice, Aaron was getting kind of grouchy. (Don’t trust the GPS on your phone in Idyllwild, just FYI.)
Imagine my surprise when we arrived at this campground and they told us where the pool was, and about the free showers, and the lodge,
cafe, family game room, amphitheater, fenced in playground,
and gave us a schedule of activities for the weekend. Let’s just say it did not suck.
So we pitched our tent in a beautiful spot. Woke up to deer and raccoon tracks just outside.
The kids got filthy, and mosquito bitten.
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| He caught a lizard. |
We walked a lot in gorgeous places.
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| Guided nature walk |
I stepped in the only pothole on the road and twisted my ankle, and then walked some more with a pressure bandage on. Which made Bam Bam wrangling a bit more challenging than it already is, but fortunately Aaron was there.
There was only one other family in the tenting area we stayed in, and they left one night before us. The last night there was so still, and the stars were brilliant and the silence deep, and the evening mild. It was exactly what you want from a camping experience.
Aaron and the Boy went on a 5 hour trek one day while the girls and I chilled in the family lodge, and played ping pong, and air hockey, and I tried to keep them from turning on the flat screen TV.
The Boy loved the Saturday evening live concert at the fire side, with a skilled performer playing vintage Country and Western songs that I grew up hearing.
But the best part I think was that Aaron had the space to surface again. He read, and played with his kids, and walked and just had time to be still, and think. I feel like I got to see my husband again for a couple of days and I hadn’t realized he was missing, buried as he is under all the work and travel and everyday life.
In other words, it was a fabulous time. We got back Monday night and I can’t believe it’s already Thursday. I’ve been playing catch up ever since.
I have made you something though.
I finally finished this facebook page I started ages ago. And it will now have all the instagrams I post, and stuff I write, and whatever else I feel like putting there. Lately I’ve been writing less, and telling the story I’m living in other ways and I’m hoping this page will help us stay connected as the craziness of my life right now pulls me in 100 different directions, just about literally. So go like it, if you want, and catch all the things I fail to write about here.