Camping!

Thinking back, I haven't been camping since the summer of 1986. A few weeks after my high school graduation, a bunch of us took off for Manteca for a few days. We were involved in a nasty 5-car accident on our way home and I haven't been camping since.

Steve and I both grew up in camping families. My family had a van -- Mom and Dad bought it in the mid 70's, I think, and it was completely stripped - nothing inside. I remember sitting in the back during their test-drive -- I was probably about 7 -- and rolling around everytime someone hit the brakes. (Man, times have changed with boosters and car seats!) Mom completely transformed it to sleep 3 -- we had a sink, a fridge, a bathroom, beds. It was amazing. She still has it, actually -- when I go up in Thanksgiving, we're going to take a look at it and if we think we can fix it up, I may take it so Bear and I can use it for camping and such. It's been parked for 6 years so it may need some TLC, but it's been inside her building the whole time. It has a new engine with only 65k miles on it -- so, we'll see. I've also been looking at pop-up trailers -- one way or another, camping is in our future.

Which brings me back to -- camping! KOA has "Kamping Kabins" now -- small 1 or 2 bedroom cabins that have a place to sleep, heat, and that's about it. We're heading up to Flagstaff to check them out in mid-October with our friends, Bob & Melissa and their three kids. Their youngest, Dane, went to preschool with Bear and they have two older sons, Dillon and Austin. They watched Bear for me over Labor Day weekend and the boys just loved spending time together -- Dane is 4, almost 5 and the two older boys are a little older than Bear so it's a great group. We are both staying in Kabins and are already excited about the camp fire -- Bear's going to love s'mores :) It's a quickie -- we'll go up on Saturday morning and leave on Sunday but it's going to be fun. I decided to leave Yogi home this time around until I know more of what to expect but I think we'll do it again and I'll bring him then. This particular weekend has hay rides and a pumpkin patch too so the kids will like that.

My excitement is mixed with sadness because it's another of many "firsts" that Steve is missing - we talked a lot about "someday" when we'd go camping. But I know we'll have fun -- and Steve won't be far away... And Bear is going to have a BALL!!!