A weekend in the woods

We went camping again this weekend. It’s a record for us — Ethan and I have been three times now this year, and the whole family (including the twins) have now been twice. 

This time we went to the Richard Bong Recreation Area and stayed in one of the group sites with our friends from church. We had quite a group — 12 kids ranging from age 2 to 10 (including three sets of twins), 10 adults and two rain storms. Oh wait, the rain storms weren’t part of the group, they just kept showing up in the evenings. 

Our site was located right at the edge of one of the hiking trails, and shortly after we arrived (just moments after a huge rain storm finally let up), Ethan asked if he could go exploring. From that point on, we rarely saw him. He, and eventually all the other kids, spent the entire weekend in the woods. 

This is the second time we've gone camping with this group (with just a few additions and deletions between trips), and we see them every week at church. But there’s something about camping that changes the dynamic. The kids don’t necessarily all interact that much at church. They see each other, they may talk a little, and some of them play together. But when we get to the campsite, without any prompting or help from the adults, they become one big group of best friends. 

It was so fun to see them all playing together, and I was so proud of how responsible they were — again with very little prompting. Without any coaching from parents, they immediately settled into a pattern of always going out in groups of at least two, always checking in with an adult to let us know which way they were headed, and always remembering to come back periodically so we didn’t have to worry. (We did send out scouts from time to time to prove we were responsible parents.)

Ethan and Ellie were the first “big kids” to arrive, and they immediately set up an elaborate spy game that involved a headquarters, various missions and other details. They were very good to include Eleanor, Ellie’s four-year-old sister in their play. As the other kids arrived, they just joined in the fun and helped it evolve. 

We also managed to fit in some good campfires, some volleyball, a moonlight hike, a double birthday party (for the oldest set of twins in the group) and lots of good campfire cooking. Ethan’s favorite meal was the banana pancakes, bacon and chocolate-banana bread we had for breakfast on Saturday. I also really liked the pizzas we do. (I had to miss the breakfast burritos this morning because Veronica was in full meltdown mode.)

On the way home, Ethan was planning our next trip to the Smokey Mountains and the things we should do while we’re there. And it made me so happy to have a boy whose fantasy vacation involves camping in a National Park, rather than going to a major theme park; and who can spend a weekend without electricity and never once complain that he missed it; and who knows enough about plants that I can let him run around in the woods and know he won’t blunder into a patch of poison ivy or poison oak. 

He’s a great kid, that boy of ours.