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A Camping Odyssey
Bonding on a Nine-day Camping Excursion
By Denise Steele-Darnell
I definitely felt a tinge of sadness as we closed up our tent and rolled the sleeping bags for the last time. It was fun to just have it be the four of us and not have any contact with the outside world. Steve had gotten used to packing and unpacking everything and mused on what else we really needed to get by in life. Whitney and Ethan really thrived in the outdoors, in spite of his teething. Reading books, playing games and riding bikes became the whole family's activity because Steve and I weren't bogged down with household duties. As we pulled up to our new home we were excited to have accomplished our family adventure. We had done what many of our friends and family thought was impossible, not to mention a little crazy. Our kids had survived and were better for it. All in all we felt glad to have done the unthinkable. And I was excited too because we'd have one more chance to live an uncluttered, less formal life – the moving van wasn't coming for two more days! So we ended up "camping" in our new living room and enjoying every moment of it.