Half Camper

Fresh air. Mountains. Canyons. Streams. Sunsets. Flowing water. The colors of Mother Nature.

These things speak to me.

I love a good hike just as much as I love the smell of a campfire and a yummy dutch oven dinner followed by S'mores. For my s'mores I usually just have chocolate though. Dusk in nature is invigorating, rejuvenating and healing.

I love to get good and sweaty on a long hike and take in a deep, cleansing breath as I overlook the valley from the top of a mountain.

I love to observe kids in nature. Kids in nature are within their element--they instinctively know what to do and I seldom hear a child whine boredom when given the opportunity to explore and discover natural beauty. I enjoy the feeling of being comfortable in allowing, and even encouraging, my children to get dirt under their fingernails as they dig deep into the earth and sift through dirt, rocks, and bugs. I forget how useful sticks are until I am reminded of their many functions by a nature-exploring child.

I enjoy giving my children the blessing of being able to get as dirty as they please...with the promise that an uptight mom won't chase them down with a bottle of hand sanitizer and a package of baby wipes. I feel satisfaction in communicating to my children through their dress that their t-shirt is appropriate to use as a napkin and extra holes in the jeans are expected.

Because I love all of these things so much, I would logically expect to enjoy camping as a favorite hobby.

Unfortunately I pretty much hate to camp. I hated it when I was single, I hated it as a newlywed, and I hate it even more as a mom. I'm trying to decide if "hate" is too strong of a word to describe my camping attitude. If I can think of a word somewhere between strongly dislike and hate, then I'll probably start using that word, but for now I'm pretty comfortable with hating it.

I don't hate the memories so much and I don't hate giving my children the experience...it's just a few specific things that I hate:

1. How to...well... Let's just say my number one concern is always wondering what "facilities" will be available. This one thing has soured many a camping experience for me. I really love a nice commode.

2a. Getting dirty, sweaty and stinky...with no chance of properly cleansing until the camping trip is officially over.

2b. Greasy hair. This kind of goes along with 2a, but it's a big enough deal to receive separate mention.

3. Packing. Either packing too much in order to be prepared for warm conditions, cold conditions, and unexpected clothing changes OR packing too little and being too cold, too hot, too wet, too dirty, too muddy, or too sticky. I also find that even when I under-pack one thing, I always over-pack another.

4. Cold feet. Often when I am camping, my feet never get warm. Why not wear socks you ask? Refer to #3...maybe I was trying to pack light for that trip, or maybe I packed for warm conditions and we were surprised by a cold surge.

5. Not finding stuff. Everything gets strewn all over camp regardless of how hard I try to keep it all organized and "findable."

6. Being in charge of stuff I don't want to be in charge of. Unfortunately I like to be in charge of lots of things, and can't even let go of my control issues when it comes to camping.

If I could create the best camping experience ever, it would be half-camping because I regard myself as a half camper. If it weren't so darn much work, I'd organize a half-camping trip every few weekends. Basically, we'd load up the minivan with all the camping essentials, set up camp, roast marshmallows over the campfire, play games in the tent, get good and dirty, then load everything up and return home for a nice shower and commode use before crawling into a comfortable, warm bed.

This weekend was kind of a half-camping experience. We have been looking forward to our only and last Texas camping trip to Bastrop State Park this weekend with our friends, the Heidenreich's. Unfortunately, this is what Friday looked like:


After contemplating for most of the day, we finally opted for a half-camping trip and set up camp in the Heidenreich's backyard. This was perfect for me, because I'm a half camper.

Even on a half-camping trip, there are lots of regular camping things you can do...

1. Set up tents like normal:

This is close to the time I yelled at Joe. He informed me that he had turned the grill off because no one was cooking anything on it. I was confused because I thought he was going to put the hot dogs on the grill (I don't touch those things) and I didn't understand why setting up the tent was more important than eating. We worked it out and we were friends for a while (until I got mad at him again later for cutting me off on "Ticket to Ride").

2. Eat camping kinds of foods:


The hot dogs for the kids eventually got grilled thanks to Cowboy Jared (in fairness, we were in charge of dinner and Heidenreich's were in charge of breakfast). Dutch oven for the adults. It was good food, but it would have tasted better if we had been full-camping instead of half-camping. Food always tastes better when full camping.

3. Show some muscle:

In my not so vast experience, camping trips always include a comparison of muscles.

4. Take little hikes, find a bridge, and explore camp:


5. Search for all manner of wildlife:


In this weekend's case, snails were the wildlife of choice.

6. Make fashion statements:

Even when we're camping, we step out in style in our family.

7. Sport some serious under-the-eye bags and look like crap the next day:

This photo was taken around noon and we all look like we just rolled out of the rack.

Since this was just half-camping, we were given some uncommon camping luxuries:

1. Really nice commodes.

2. The adults sat comfortably in the house and played Ticket to Ride while the kids were far away outside. We visited for a while afterwards and laughed as Jared expressed his anticipation of crawling into a nice wet sleeping bag.

3. Hiedi and I stayed up until 3am for girl time and then we slept comfortably and soundly in soft beds next to our babies. This was a special bonus considering the fact that both tents had leaked during an early-evening rainstorm.

4. Hiedi had all the things I had forgotten at her fingertips...except the hot dogs. Jared had to drive back home to get those.

Even with the added luxuries, I felt exhausted. I still felt frustrated because I couldn't find stuff. I still lost my patience a few times (I guess I would have done that even had we not been camping). I felt horrible about leaving Joe and Hiedi with the task of putting a torn-up house back together.

On the flip side, I was grateful for such great friends. I was glad we could give all the kids a chance to have one last out-of-the-ordinary experience together. I was fulfilled in knowing we were engaged in something that will bring sweet memories for years to come.

Full-camping or half-camping, I guess it's not that much different. It's a lot of work for a couple days, a few headaches, lots of good times, and oodles of memories for a lifetime.