Mission…Possible?

by Amanda Martin

 

Me: “Hey Jon, what do you want to do this summer?”

Jon: “Camping and go to California to see Nana and Papa.”

 

Cool, so now you are caught up on how we got started on this crazy plan of ours. We are excited nervous…let’s just say that we have a lot of emotions about road tripping and camping our way from Oklahoma to California over a five-day span. Taking a five-year-old, seven-month old, and a not yet potty-trained puppy on this type of trip might be a little bit crazy but we hope it will be a great adventure that we will one day be able to laugh about.

One of the biggest life changes we have wanted to make is for our family to get outdoors and create an atmosphere where our children can form a relationship with nature. Having said this, up to this point our family has been very much so an indoor family. Jeff and I both grew up camping but the most Jon has camped was one night a couple weeks ago in our backyard. So packing for our little family of four plus pup for an extended long camping/road trip should be easy…like, I won’t forget anything…I got this…it’s fine…it’s…ya…moving on back to the fun! We will be camping in Kansas, Colorado, Wyoming, Utah, Nevada, and then California.

Getting to see states that I have never seen before, exploring new places with my family, and making memories is what it is all about. Jeff and I expect to have the ‘what were we thinking’ moments (I think you would have to be super human not to, so we decided to take a picture of the two of us smiling. Like the family statement, the picture will be our reminder of why we are doing it, why it is all worth it.

If you would have asked me a year ago if I would have done this with even one kid and no puppy, I would have given you a million excuses why I couldn’t. Now I almost feel like I’m daring myself to take on something that seems impossible or far-fetched. I think mission accomplished with this one. We have about three weeks until we set off. Did I mention that we are tent camping without an air mattress? Stay tuned…