I don't camp, but they do.

Camping isn't my thing. When I camp, I complain. When I complain, I sound immature and then Ethan starts questioning why he married me in the first place. So I try to avoid camping. It's a little hard to do when I married into a family that does these enormous camping family reunions. I have only had to buck up once, but as my children get older, I will have run out of excuses, aka, new baby.


This summer is the giant reunion in Arizona and I am sending Jack, Van with Ethan while Violet and I stay at home and paint our nails and drink mai-tai's by the pool. To prepare Jack for camping, they have started practice runs. The first practice run was last week. Ethan came home late one night and asked if Jack had anything on the docket for the next day. I said no and he replied, "Good, him and I are going camping."


That night, I tucked Jack in bed with dreams of camping dancing in his head. Later on in the evening, I peeked in his room and he was sleeping with his army clothes on. I woke him up and asked him why he was wearing his army clothes and he replied very plainly, "Mom, I am going camping tomorrow. I need to be ready to go." In the morning, he packed his bag. He put in his blanket, some gumballs, some of my metal barbecue skewers (he said that army men need those when they go into the wilderness) and a water bottle. And then I packed his bag. Is clean underwear too much to ask?


So camping they went and it was bliss for them. They went fishing, did a little bit of hiking and had roasted marshmallow and Pringle sandwiches. Sounds disgusting. I was so proud when I heard that he ate his breakfast trout like it was ribs. Cleaned the bones. I just love that.

Yes, that's root beer for breakfast. Doing it up Dad style.

Jack is now prepped for a few days of family reunion camping. Now the only issue is Van. It's going to be so much fun getting that boy to sleep in a tent. But that isn't my problem. Have fun Ethan!