The great outdoors

My bed mates sleeping soundly. Lucky ducks. I want to not be a temperature sissy but I can't help it if I need 30 pounds of cotton or animal covering me in order to slumber.

Anabelle was loving that tent. Until she realized she was sleeping alone in there. I was summoned to sleep on the rocks with her and share a sheet-like blanket. A bit of planning won't hurt us next time.

Anabelle throws sticks into the fire. Ninja style.

Last Friday night we were eating dinner outside and I mentioned how perfect the weather was to Braden. He agreed. I said that it was even camping perfect (which in Alabama simply means that it doesn't feel like you are awkwardly sharing a shower with the general public and that bugs aren't presently gnawing your legs to the bone). He said, "We should go camping". I said, "Yes, we should". So we threw some stuff in our car and went camping. Best choice I've made in a while. We forgot stuff, I slept maybe 2 hours of the night because I was freezing and uncomfortable, but something about "living" in nature, if only for a matter of hours is soothing to my soul. Now, after just returning from girls camp as the director, I will say that my family must have played a huge role in the charm I was feeling because at the end of the first day of camp, I willingly crawled in the trunk of my car and remained in fetal position through the rest of the night in order to avoid anymore female banter and chatter and whining and trash talking. I strongly believe that even Anabelle would have been appalled at the whining at girls camp (among leaders!). It's good she wasn't there to see that she isn't even coming close to tapping into full female capacity for annoyingness. I would hate for her to have been inspired. The girls were great for the most part and now that it's over, so am I.

Back to the family camping trip...Anabelle was one happy camper...

For the first time, her passion for stick gathering not only mattered, it was encouraged and rewarded. She ate somewhere around 15 marshmallows for dinner, went to bed very late without taking a bath, and met lots of people and puppies.

For Braden I think it's about any chance he has to get cold.

I didn't have to do dishes, got to snuggle with my family while looking at the stars, and Braden made me laugh my head off. I loved that it was just my family, my favorite people, alone in nature with no distractions. I made immediate mental resolutions to do it more often.

We mocked those who paid for bundles of firewood when they were sitting in a forest. I think our laughing kind of died down with our fire, which lasted only a few minutes because we didn't have enough wood.

Right before bed Anabelle said, "I love it here! It's fun to cook fire".