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Sunday, August 14, 2011

The Wisdom of Daddy: A “Guy’s” Camping Trip


They hit the dusty trail Friday afternoon for their second annual Father/Son camping trip. “Hey, Mom,” William said with an impish grin first thing that morning, “Guess how many sleeps until I go camping with Dad,” no answer from Mommy…. “NONE!”  Yes, the boy was thrilled (and I was thrilled that he told a joke, sort of, without “underpants” as the punch line). But I digress…

Rob’s excursion with William reminded me of the importance of making the most of one-on-one time with each of our children rather than just viewing those one-child moments as opportunities to do more housekeeping or get errands out of the way. By slowing down, following her lead, and really focusing on my dear Sara Bear we had a relaxed, meaningful and truly delightful time together while the guys were gone. Nothing fancy, just reading mountains of books, playing a couple games, letting her pick what we’d have for dinner (pizza of course), an after-dinner pajama walk (just her, my pajamas aren’t nearly as cute as her new princess nightgown), throwing a Frisbee for the neighbor dog, then finally a big huge bubble bath. And all this without big brother around so she received 100% of Mommy’s attention (and I got 100% of hers)!     

I meant it when I said "big huge bubble bath," (but not pink as the photo suggests, I just tinted it that way because my exposure was awful and this made it look fun and girly, just like our time together)

Meanwhile, William was enjoying having Dad all to himself as well, setting up camp, eating gnocchi with pesto as the little gourmand requested, and experiencing an amazingly bright almost-full moon. Just as he did last year, Rob took William to Mirror Lake, arguably one of the most picturesque and tranquil wilderness destinations within easy driving and hiking distance from our home.  

They experienced a camera malfunction so the only pictures are the ones I took of them heading out but these are moments William (and Daddy for that matter) will hold in their memory forever. Here are a couple shots from last year.

Gnocchi was William's choice last year too

Happy Camper

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