Visions of Dutch Ovens and Pie Irons Dance in My Head....

There is about a million things I should be doing right now. I just heard the dryer buzz, telling me that yet another load is ready to be added to the "need to fold" pile (and maybe even get folded!) There are a few dishes that should be washed and a huge paper due Monday that I haven't even started, but here I am-googling "campfire cooking" and checking out Dutch ovens and Pie Irons. There is some amazing stuff you can make in those things!
I do believe that the camping bug has officially bitten! I am so pumped to go camping, I can hardly wait. There are times that I doubt my sanity in this excitement because when we camp, we sleep in a tent in all kinds of weather with our 3 little hooligans all under 5! But, crazy as it may seem, I am completely ok with that. It is true that I have never camped when it was brutally hot, so that might change my opinion, but I kind of like sleeping in the fresh air. I never have a problem getting the kids to sleep because they have so much fun during the day, they are tuckered out and ready for some shut eye.
In the past we have stayed in a cabin, or borrowed a tent, but this year, we are buying our own equipment, so I am looking forward to using it more once! Growing up, we went camping every year for our vacation, and I really enjoyed it (most of the time). We tease my dad that he wants to be a hermit because when he goes on vacation he likes to "get away"-literally. We wouldn't go to fun places that had lots of activities and fun stuff to do-we would go to places like Wyoming...up in a mountain...with no showers or flush toilets...and VERY few people. That's what he liked, so that's what we did! Granted, I was far from thrilled at the time (pretty sure I wouldn't be thrilled with those accomodations NOW) but I have to give him credit. It was very relaxing-sitting by a fire reading a book (it's cold in the mountains!), eating food cooked on a fire, my dad's ghost stories (he's VERY good at them, but that's a story for another time) and then curling up in a warm sleeping bag, drifting off to sleep to a medley that only nature can provide. We had some fun times that I will always remember.
That's why I'm excited. Camping definitely isn't my idea of a perfect vacation but when I see my kids covered from head to toe in dirt, grinning from ear to ear, and then asking as we pull out of the driveway of the campground how long it is until we go again, it makes it all worth it. THEY are worth every bug bite and sunburn, every long hour it takes to pack and unpack, every second of planning and preparation. The fact that they have been ready since Winter to go camping and the fact that they haven't stopped asking if it's almost July since they heard me make the reservation. I see them outside with a little pile of sticks they picked up, pretending it's a campfire. I smile when I hear Darren say "Marshmallow" every time he hears the word camping. So I will sleep in a tent in the middle of July and forgo conveniences because I love them and I love to see them happy. THEY are why I'm pumped! :)

Here is why I do it!