They've Gone Camping

As a parent of all girls or all boys there are some great benefits. I had a week of peace to myself as the men of my house went on their annual father and son camping trip. I was free; swimming, reading, visiting friends and family. Last year I was able to spend the night at my girlfriends house and have another friend, who was getting married, spend the night at my house. She always says what a great time that was for her as the last moments of singlehood.

It's great during the summer if you have only girls as well. You can make a week of some sort of annual getaway. This was the seventh year for the fathers and sons. It was last year when the girls wanted in on the fun. So it is now the Father and Son/Daughter annual camping trip. None of the wives have dared to break the tradition, especially now when they have found this new freedom. I have received calls from mothers who let both their son and daughter attend the trip and realized how much "self-rejuvenation" they have missed.

This all started when three good friends, one being my husband, were shooting the breeze when they had an idea of going camping. Only the boys seemed interested at the time. The girls may have been thinking of the bugs. So the idea came into fruition. Now on average, about ten families go to a camp site in upstate New York. This is their second site and they are hoping to go camping in Delaware next summer. I like that sometimes one family is unable to go so the others pitch in financially.

This really was a good idea. Try putting something together for your family during the summer break that you consistently do every year. The children will always refer back to it stating what a fun time they had. They remind themselves of events that occurred, reminiscing fondly.As a mother of two boys, I always notice how they seem to come back taller and more mature. A week away just shows me how fast they are growing and that the rest of the year, I don't want to miss anything in their lives. (Of course that is not possible).

This year they told me stories of frogs and lakes and this year no bee sting and yellow butterflies and catching dragonflies with their nets to later let them go with the frog and smores at the campfire and new funny made up words from former campers and new made up songs, and how they learned to swim and loved the onion burgers and seasoned chicken and the look on so-an- so's face and the stars at night and the bigger tent this year and the girls all sat around, etc. It sounds like so much fun. But I won't give up my one week of tranquility. That's my week of growth.