The other evening, on the verge of the coldest night of Fall, our family decided to go camping at my folks cabin. Instead of sitting at home and enjoying a relaxing evening with our electronic devices and climate controlled bedrooms, we got out. If we hadn't left the house that evening, we would have missed out on some obstacles and challenges that I'll call adventures. For instance, before we even got out of town, I got a call that the cows were out and that I needed to get them back in before dark. I had one hour to coax dad's (well-trained) cows back through the gate and fix the fence. It was challenging but fun! It was very dark by the time my family got to the cabin and started up a fire, but everyone met that obstacle with a great attitude. Getting the boys to bed in a one-room cabin was tricky since we had to turn out all the lights and lay down quietly. They thought this was time for a giggle-fest and stayed up a little (maybe a lot!) longer than usual. Throughout the night, the fire needed tending since the outdoor temperature was below 32 deg. F. Every time I had to get out of my comfortable, warm sleeping bag I felt a bit proud to be taking one for the (family) team so that they could stay warm; and actually it wasn't as cold as I thought!
There's just something relaxing about a wood stove.
So the boys woke up at 5:30 am and there wasn't anything to do but get up with them and put some delicious foil-wrapped burritos on the stove! Challenge accepted! Hunger averted!
Since we were all up and had already eaten breakfast, there was nothing else to do but take a brisk sunrise jog. I wouldn't say that physical education is my strong point, but the family run at seven am may become a tradition when camping!
Air mattress jumping is an Olympic sport in our house!
To cap off the beautiful cold morning jog and clean-up, we discovered our van's battery to be dead. This required a 1/2 mile hike to the nearest fencer battery to steal it for our van. Challenge accepted! (Em would like to point out that much like the little house on the prairie, she was left alone with two crazy boys to keep them alive while I was gallivanting across the plains) Fortunately the battery was good and our van was running in no time. We got home in good order and when we looked at the clock, it wasn't even 9 am yet. Just imagine if we'd stayed home in our warm beds; we'd probably just be getting around to breakfast without any adventure like the ones we had at the cabin. Get out...side!
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