through their eyes

It's almost funny when you consider how a humble campsite can be so, so much more in the eyes of a child.  

our tent ~ home sweet home last weekend

To our children this past weekend it was a place where nothing mattered except for us being together.

We went in with just a few items on our checklist to complete.

First item of business ~ voted unanimously by the kids ~ to take care of?

A campfire of course.   We arrived just in time to get the tent set up by dark.  Perfect timing to have the first "event" of the trip be a campfire.  With marshmallows.  And chocolate.  And graham crackers.

I suspect we could have broken down the tent Saturday morning and headed for home and still had positive reviews about the trip.  There's just something about your first s'more of the season...

But of course we didn't come straight home.

There was a whole lot of fishing to do!

it's almost eerie how much this picture looks like it could have been taken at my grandpa's pond

After all, I'm pretty sure we spent more on two kids' fishing pole sets than we did on our campsite for the weekend.

For our entire crew this was the first time with a rod and reel in hand.

And each one of 'em caught a fish.

We spent time on the playground, swinging to the skies...

...declaring ourselves head pirate of the ship...

...or quietly building castles in the sand.

caleb not pictured at the playground because he and his daddy spent some extra time at the fishin' pond, just the two of them.

Overall it was a weekend free from technology and other distractions.  Time spent focused on enjoying each other.  Super simple and yet clearly meaningful in the eyes of our children.  Each one of them expressed thanks for our weekend in their prayers Sunday night.

One even went as far as to say, "That was the best weekend, ever!"

The crew has already begun asking when we're going camping again.  And even as I'm waiting for the cricks from sleeping on the ground two nights in a row to get out of my neck, I'll think back on how full my heart was in this moment...

...and start daydreaming right along with them about our next unplugged weekend.

It was good stuff...