Camping - A Dad's Perspective

Camping and the great outdoors, I do not know what the draw is but kids sure seem to love camping. Maybe its a chance to just goof off all day long, go hiking, cooking out, smores, or the many other things that camping offers.

From a Dad's perspective (and I am always trying to change this) when I think camping my thoughts turn to packing, loading the car, setting up the camp, erecting a tent, and the list goes on. I must admit there were several times (like when we did not have metal ground stakes for the tent) that I became very, what's the word? frustrated. I thank God for such a patient and understanding wife, who kindly reminded me in a moment of frustration, "Look at the girls and how much fun they are having." That little reminder was all I needed to put things into perspective and to realize that: 1) do not sweat the small things, and everything is small; 2) We are camping in the city, WalMart is only 10 minutes away (my wife went and got the extra things we needed); 3) Having several days of pure family time is well worth the extra effort!

We had a great spot, right on the lake, and everyone had a fabulous time.

As you can see by the pictures Katie was proud of her snail shell she found by the lake shore and of course my youngest is the 'ham' in the family, as noted by the unprompted poses in each of these photos.