Cautiously Optimistic

I have a picture of myself at six weeks old, on my very first camping trip. That's right, I said six weeks old. You can only see the top half of my head in this picture, as the rest of me is covered snugly with a sleeping bag, but it's a picture that I love because I really love camping. We must have gone camping every year, if not several times a year, when we were growing up. It was always a wonderful family time filled with fishing, boating, hiking, eating, campfire stories, s'mores, and getting completely filthy. I've always wanted my children to have those same memory-making experiences. And so it is with cautious optimism that we are embarking on the boys' very first camping trip this weekend.

Kamaki's sister Nani and her daughter Makana will be coming with us, and so will the dog. I'm thrilled (and so are the boys) that Auntie and Cous' will be coming with us, but even with all the extra help, I have to admit, I was little nervous.

We will be camping on the Oregon coast where Kamaki is playing in a beach volleyball tournament. I'm sure the boys will have a lot of fun watching all the action and playing in the sand, but there is a part of me that is greatly concerned over the disruption of their beloved schedule and the absence of all their favorite things. There will be no unlimited supply of toys, no Nemo to watch, no booster seats, no bath tub, and no familiar room with four solid walls and two cribs to bounce joyfully in. To add to my anxiety, there is the chance of rain this weekend.

After agonizing for weeks over everything that could go wrong, I decided last night that none of that mattered. I'm sure that not all of my childhood camping trips went perfectly, in fact, I would be surprised if any of them did! But I don't remember the problems we may have had, I remember all the fun we had. So, from this moment on, I am going to adopt a care-free attitude and allow myself to feel excitement over this trip. We probably will run into a few snags, but life is full of them. What makes a memory, is the ability to rise above and have a great time anyway!

So, wish us luck, and I will be back next week to report on all of our adventures!