A dirty word for good clean fun

Pre-season OU football game + a long weekend in September + good, easy going friends = a perfect camping weekend and that's exactly what we had just a few days ago! But CAMPING is a dirty word, for sure.

There are a number of ways to "rough it." Some have tents and sleep out under the stars... with bugs and sticks poking between your every vertebrae. Other people have tow-behind campers that allow you to sleep up off the ground but still invite the camp sounds and smells to flood your netted adobe. And other people have a house on wheels (with more TVs than I have in my real house) and call it a camper.

The Heineckes have a popup camper. I've blogged about it before (here, here, and here). I luv it. Our friends have a Donald Trump house on wheels. And I'm glad they did! When it was time for the OU game to start, we already had our steaks grilled, corn on the cob buttered and chairs perched outside the mobile mansion to watch the game. (Our set up was better than the game, agreed?)

The look my boys' faces says, "We can no longer count OU penalties on one hand... or two hands..."

Some of you say, "Hey, that's not roughing it!" Maybe. Maybe not. Some of you don't camp at all so hush.

But what we DIDN'T have was
internet,
phones,
neighborhood kids using our bathroom and eating our snacks,
bills to pay, laundry to fold, floors to mop,
football practice, trombone practice,
homework, real work and yard work

We roughed it by playing camp games, hiking to the water, eating off paper plates then throwing them in the fire, sitting around talking about nothing and everything, making homemade ice cream and eating it with plastic spoons and riding ATVs... and we did it all without being bossed around by our clocks.

Oh and there was plenty of dirt. Kid Three isn't too keen on the campground showers (since he doesn't even understand how flip flops work, let alone wear them in the shower!) He takes the tub kind of camp shower.

If your family has never camped, it might be worth looking into. Kids in the great outdoors, learning to make a fire, entertain themselves WITHOUT electricity and stopping long enough to enjoy some of the simpler, finer things in life.

Camping is definitely one of the dirtiest things to provide good, clean family fun.