Well, Joel had a big weekend. He went on his very first camping trip and we weren't even there! We have some good friends who are outdoor people extraordinaire and so when they invited him along to keep their precious little girl company, we figured he would be in good hands! Who better to introduce him to the fine art (or torturous experience, as I like to think of it) of camping? You can read all about their experience here if you are interested (probably only my mom will read that, thanks Jamie!).
He did great and already said he would like to go again next week. Okay, Zac, did you hear that? Because I'll just be honest. I don't like camping. Unfortunately I believe that baby #4 has now sealed the deal that camping will be the only family vacation we will be able to afford for the next many years. Bummer. I better start to get excited about the prospect. I suppose once we buy tents, sleeping bags, camping stoves, camping dishes, coolers, chairs, backpacks, lanterns, lots of bug spray, and smore's sticks, it would be a pretty affordable getaway. Oh wait, maybe we should just think of something else. That sounds kind of overwhelming.
I'll tell you why I really don't like camping. I sort of have some sensory "issues". If you ask Zac, he'll tell you that I have mild autism and Joel just comes by it naturally. Either way, I will admit that certain sensations bother me in an "I am extremely sensitive to normal things way". I don't like wind or extreme cold or hot, or being dirty, or the fact that I hear every single noise as being 10 times louder than it really is and smell every smell as 10 times more potent that it really is. I guess I am just hypersensitive to some stimuli. Mostly being dirty is the one that truly bugs me. It's like I can feel every grain of dirt caking my body and then I can't think about anything else. And as you know if you read Jamie's recap, being dirty is a large part of camping. So is smell. I love campfires, but I hate that when I crawl into my sleeping bag shortly thereafter, I smell like a chimney. And then when we get home, I have to relive the whole dirty and smoky experience when I pull out all of the dirty laundry. Ugh.
Okay, now I sound like a freak. I promise, I am still a very high-functioning person and most of my friends probably don't even know this about me. I'm just explaining in greater detail my difficulties with camping.
All that to say, I am glad Joel had a wonderful time and maybe one day we can go with Scot and Jamie and they can try to impart their love of camping to me. Some day.
Oh, and if you don't get my title for this post, I do know a little about the outdoor experience--everything I know I have learned from watching Man vs. Wild (Bear is the host) with Zac and I'm quite confident I could find my way out of the Sierra Nevadas with just a flint and a knife. Really. Just as long as I don't get too dirty :).
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