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.

Legoland

What a great week we have had - it started out with a decision to just take a mini-vacation this year and do something local. We were really bummed not to make it back to Maine but the rising cost of air fares is just to prohibitive. It has been more than a year since we were last at Legoland and my youngest is now tall enough to do most of the rides and attractions. We treated ourselves to three days at the Legoland resort in Carlsbad. This is a very new hotel, which opened earlier this year and is probably one of the nicer hotels I have ever stayed in. One of the perks of staying here is that the hotel has its own private entrance to Legoland! It was a wonderful three days of just hanging out with the family, enjoying some entertainment, spending time relaxing, some good eating, and even some reading.

We finished the week off watching the El Cajon Fireworks show with family and a couple of friends. Of course, after the long week, both of my girls were pretty tired by the time the fireworks started and were more interested in going home than the show.

After severing in the military for almost 24 years holidays, like the 4th of July, hold a special meaning, as I have been at the 'Tip of the Spear' forward deployed, defending our freedom, like so many young men and women are still doing today. I am proud to have served but even prouder of those who are still serving and sacrificing so much that I am able to retire and enjoy the freedom they provide for us all.

Below are two items I have posted from the vacation, the top is a link to my online photo album with a few pictures from the vacation. The below that is a short (~30 sec) video of Kassie's first driving experience. That girl sure did have the look of concentration and was very competitive!

Legoland