Great Times
I've been “out of pocket” for a while with a week of birthdays, our anniversary (27th) and a camping trip. We spent a few days at Table Rock Lake. There is nothing like camping with a six year old. Everything is exciting. The adventure starts with setting up the tent after dark by car headlights. They turn off every few minutes automatically (the designer thought that would be convenient). Jubi's job was to turn them back on again and again while I tried to read the tent directions. Uhh, forgot to pack the hammer for the stakes. I told her a 30 minute fanciful bedtime story about a tiny horse named Stanley who had lost his herd and his friends Edward (the work horse) and Sammy (the mouse) who helped him find them. “Wow that was good,” I thought. “I should have recorded it,” I thought. “It should be published,” I thought. Then next morning she told me she kept falling asleep.
Camping always makes for good stories...like my friend who took his family of eleven, yes eleven to Colorado. He spoke of downpours, lightning strikes and encounters with wild beasts. Nevertheless it turned out to be one of the best times they ever had together. I love the wildlife. Last time we went camping, a raccoon climbed a tree with our organic bologna (yes, there is such a thing) while my wife yelled at him. He seemed very used to that. I admired him for waiting for us to start snoring and for his skill at opening the cooler. He couldn't reach the trash bag we had hung on the poll to keep out such varmints or he might have thrown away the package. So happy we saved the trash. This trip was pretty uneventful (relaxing) except for the snake at the swimming beach but we are used to those living where we do in the woods.
The coolest part was that our older kids joined us for the second night. I kept thinking I don't know how many times we will all be able to be together like this. We all went sailing on a catamaran on my birthday. A glorious experience. The warm windy day was just perfect for it. I thank the Lord for great times like that.
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