Camping

Today is a big day for our family -- for today is the day that we bought our first tent. It is a Coleman Laurel Creek 6-Person Tent, to be exact. You may wonder why a family of three needs such a large tent. Andrew and I could easily pack everything we need in a single backpack ... on the other hand, Sprout's necessities take up the entire cargo space of Andrew's Chevy truck. Also, we plan on bringing our poodle Shimmer on our future adventures. Therefore, a 6-person tent is what we need indeed!

Although Sprouty is a mere 12 weeks in age, he has already been on three camping and/or hiking excursions. As we expected, he loves the great outdoors. I carry him in my green Sleepy-Wrap baby wearing device and he takes everything in as snug as a bug in a rug. Andrew documents our outings with his trusty camera.

Since I am staying home with our little one, Andrew and I have to think carefully about our finances. Travelling that requires hotel stays is not in our budget. However, now we have a tent! Prime mountain land comes at a premium, but not for us! Perhaps we have the desire to have waterfront property with a Spruce-filled backdrop -- within ten minutes our tent will be pitched and there you have it! Should we have the desire to be in the midst of sand dunes and wild horses the next weekend ... no problemo! No matter where we decide to go, we'll always have a place to stay.

Whenever we have the opportunity to go hiking, the scenery makes my imagination go wild. Sometimes I imagine that Andrew is an English settler and I am an Indian princess who happens to fall in love with him. Since our people do not understand or approve of our love, we must venture into the untamed forest together to make a life for ourselves. Other times I like to think that we are Bohemian tree huggers on a mission to save all things that are green. We have renamed ourselves -- Andrew is Juniper, I am Clover, and Sprout is still Sprout. As we step deeper into the woods and further away from our conventional lives, we can be anyone -- at least in the recesses of my mind. :-)