Paul and I wanted to take the kids on a mini vacation for a few days after school got out last week. Since I am taking the kids for a big trip back east in August, we had a limited budget for this trip. We had the option of staying at a client’s ocean front beach house (with a roof top pool) or go camping. Hmm. What to do. I was really voting for the former. We all were. But the house  turned out to not be available so I put on my game face and decreed: “Let’s go camping!”

I freakin’ hate camping. I can’t even begin to tell you how much I despise it. The only good thing about it is that when I come home I really appreciate running water, flushing toilets, warmth, a firm mattress and the relief from the cacophony of shrieking birds and beer- swilling drunks who think we like their blasting music. (Celine Dion at midnight. Somebody pleeeeeease call the park ranger!)

I didn’t always feel this way. When I was a child we went camping all the time. It was the only vacations my family could afford. When we got old enough to stay home alone our parents ditched camping (and us) for cruises to  Bermuda and The Bahamas.  I graduated from camping when I flew to Hawaii for the first time and experienced waiters bringing me Mai Tais by the pool.

Still, I think camping can be a valuable and enjoyable experience and fun for the kids, and since I am such a self-sacrificing mother, I was willing to brave one final voyage with our well-worn tent trailer… The Palomino Stallion.  When Paul and the kids were cleaning it out last week I noticed  for the first time the name Palomino Stallion emblazoned on the bottom and could not believe the oxymoronic ridiculousness of such a title. First of all you have to tow the thing, it’s not like it can trot around  by itself. And secondly, the words Palomino Stallion conjures up images in my mind of something graceful, fast, durable and … well… stud- like. Our dilapidated, mildewed, rusty tent trailer is anything but.

Since we were bringing our boat as well, we wanted a water front campground, so we  headed three hours south to Lake Nacimiento. It was beautiful. Not very crowded.  Since Paul is a camping machine (By that I mean a very methodical, organized and experienced camper. Remember, he has a head lamp.) it took us about an hour to set up camp, hang the dart board on the tree and put our boat in the water. We stayed three nights (which is my limit) and it turned out to be a very enjoyable trip.

The last full day we were there I suggested to Paul that we rent a speed boat since the boat we have only holds four people, which doesn’t work in a family of 7. (Paul got our boat when he was a single dad with three kids.) I thought it would be fun to get a large boat that could hold all of us so we could go out together and not have to take turns. The kids were delighted and I could see Paul was in his element at the helm. He rented water skis and taught the kids how to water ski. He gave Sophia and Mark a turn at the wheel and he took us over to a cove he found earlier that had great jumping rocks. This is something Paul really likes to do. He likes to find cliffs that are 20 feet up in the air so he can jump off of them. Doesn’t that sound (terrifyingly) fun? And he encourages the children to do it too!!! It is such an adrenaline rush he tells me. You must face your fears. As a mother of five children, four of whom are now teenagers, I feel that I face my fears every day and have mustered enough courage and adventure in one lifetime already.  I don’t need to jump off cliffs.

My favorite part of the trip was at night listening to the kids sit around the campfire talking about their memories of previous camping trips. Our blended family of four years has memories. Our first vacation together as a family was four years ago when we went to Anchor Bay in Mendocino County. They talked a lot about that and last year’s trip to The Delta. And the year before when we saw the hot springs in Mammoth and rented a pontoon boat on Lake Tulloch. It only goes to show you that in the hustle and commotion of every day life it is hard to notice that we have bonded as a family. It took our little mini vacation to allow us the time to discover and reflect that we had.