Cabin Trip: Ideal vs. Reality

Allison and I have been trying to plan a week long trip with just us and the kids. We finally found one week that worked for both of us (only because a soccer tournament was canceled) and began making preparations. Finally last Wednesday we loaded up the truck and headed to the mountains. The bed of the truck was filled to the brim with our supplies; we were really living the out the boy scout motto of always be prepared!

Ideally I imagined a week long trip spending time enjoying the woods; watching our children play in the creeks, collecting bugs, fishing, hiking, roasting marshmallows, playing games, knitting, and going on evening drives to look for wildlife... all while feeling a profound sense of peace, serenity, and relaxation.

The reality of the situation was that all of that did happen: We played in the inlet at Atkinson where I caught 3 fish! We went on several short hikes. We spent a whole day playing in another creek. The kids took an afternoon swim in the lake and came out so smelly. They spent a morning collecting bugs, and much to my demise the only thing they captured was a grasshopper! Allison and I played several games of Hand and Foot and Nertz. We went on several evening drives and saw SO much wildlife- countless deer, 3 foxes (one tried to watch a movie with us through the sliding glass door late one night), 3 porcupines, and many chipmunks (one even snuck into the cabin and we had to chase it out). I got more than half way finished knitting the top portion of the dress I am making. We never did roast marshmallows it was just too hot.

The only other thing missing was the profound feeling of peace, serenity, and relaxation; this was replaced with, frustration as the children (actually our boys) could NOT get along and argued, fought, didn't listen, wouldn't share. Even though we did all we were wanting, with out the feeling of relaxation it just wasn't worth it...

So after only 4 days on the mountains we decided to head home.

Learned? Fighting boys is a buzz kill for an ideal trip to the woods...