Well, the plan was to go camping this weekend, but since all the campsites in the Redwoods appear to be full this weekend, we decided to camp a little closer to home! Here's our tent in the backyard. We set it up in the dark in proper late night arrival fashion (Oh, no....that's the wrong pole! Wait...the pole popped out again! Who has the rain-fly? Abby, come back here with that hammer!), and crawled into our sleeping bags after an evening swim in our "lake." We watched the stars come out, read our scriptures, told scary stories, and laughed as the cat and Abby tried to come into the tent through the "shoe door."
Tonight we are roasting hot dogs, making smores, and swimming again! The pool really does look like a lake....it's all green. My filter has been broken for a while, and it was finally fixed today, but it will need 24 hours before it gets crystal clear again.
It's not quite like the redwoods, but hey...it's still fun! We love the redwoods. Besides being beautiful, the redwood groves are usually in close proximity to the ocean, which gives us the best of both worlds...the mountains and the beach. Did you know the Redwoods sing? When we stayed at Grizzly Creek several years in a row, we were amazed to wake up early in the morning to hear an odd sort of music...it happens when the fog, the temperature and the breezes are just right. Simply amazing!
It must be a sign of the financial times when the campgrounds are so full...lots of people are trying to cut expenses, I guess. For us, camping is a way of life. Last year, we went on an epic journey to the Grand Tetons. We had a marvelous time, even with all the road construction. Joe invented a song we now call the mile marker song, which helped all of us hold on to a little piece of sanity as we inched along on the highways under a hot sun with no air conditioning available because of the incline. We camped in a beautiful quiet area in one of the most amazing areas I've ever seen. We saw all kinds of wildlife...bison, birds, deer, coyotes, and even a grizzly bear. Our tent was put to great use! For us, nature is a way of reconnecting with each other in a meaningful way and getting back to basics, and especially back to recognizing God's love for us and his hand in our lives. I am always amazed at how he demonstrates his love for us every day!
Of course, there are always the difficulties of life, and the "wearing" effect we have on one another. Being a parent is tough work! But I'm so glad and grateful to have this blessing in my life, and I hope that the "wearing" will eventually make me a more polished, smoother, and willing person. Even during the times when I'm sure God has a lot more confidence in me than I have in myself as a parent, I can only be amazed and humbled to be helping him raise these kids.
Oh! I just remembered...I better go check the sprinkler settings! We might get more than we bargained for in the morning!
Love and Hugs!
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