Ins and Outs of my Life

Camping out

Last year a few days after Christmas, we went to the campsite and camped with our family up from Florida. Turned out to be a very cold night but fun. I was so cold and there was frost on the tent the next morning. I had not been back camping since. My boys and hubby go often but not me. But for the New Year's Eve I went and met up with everyone who had been out there already a day and a half. It wasn't too cold and I had a great time. Just what my body needed. Down time. But the whole time as we were roughing it-- I thought of the folks in Thailand. I got to come home to my shower today. They do not. On top of that as we went through a Burger King drivein on the way home-- I look over next door near a Dumpster and see a homeless lady. That is rare to even see in our town so it threw me a loop. I am so blessed to have all I have.
We have a camp site on my hubby's folks property near their lake. It is like a little hollow in a hill overlooking the lake. We leave the tents there and have it set up with hammlets, and a nice campfire pit. We used to leave a lot of equipment in the tents but it got stolen last time. So we store it up at the big house. The kids all have their fout wheelers and ride most of the day in and out of the camp. At night we can hear the coyotes all around. Makes me think of the pioneers. Last night as I lay in the tent, I was very warm and content and thought this must be how it felt to be and Indian wife. I thought of buffalo skins for blankets and was glad for my Coleman sleeping bags. I was also glad to have an eggshell on the tent floor. As we listened to the fire crackle most of the night, I thought of the energy it has taken us to keep it fed. How hard it must have been for the Indians. We actually have abundant firewood as there are a lot of dead trees already fallen in the woods and we merely had to chop those up. Yet it gets old having to take turns at night to make sure it is still burning with a log on it.
I thought of how it was fun to cook all our meals over the open fire, but it took a long time. Yet we bonded more as family because we hung out around the fire as we cooked and kept warm. We had about 12 of us bringing in the New Year. It was one of the best New Year's I have ever had. No drinking as we mostly had kids with us and only a few adults. We did take out the pocket t.v. at 11:53 and watch Times Square. We drank sparkling cider and it was fun. At one we did it again as some of our cousins there are on Central time and we are on Eastern. I was glad to have a good New Year's as I was so sick at Christmas. Today we all slept til around 9:15 . I lay awake in the tent another hour or so and enjoyed the warmth and sounds around me. I am glad my boys are older so I can do that now. In fact my little one ventured on to his grandmother's house across the lake for a more heartsome breakfast of pancakes and bacon. We had the works too but there is something about pancakes at grandmother's that one can not resist. My oldest had his asthma acting up actually went after midnight from the camp to her house to sleep as he felt stuffy in the woods. He has a of allergies. But he was back at the site early. Didn't want to miss out on any fun. Good thing is that if we need grandmother's house, we can go up there as most of the kids do all day. But us adults usually rough it on out.