Male Bonding Time

Mark, Seth and Joel left yesterday morning to go camping. They'll be home later today. The night before they left the boys could hardly sleep they were so excited. As they packed up their gear and pulled out I felt a little tug at my heart. There went my "men" heading out to the wilderness for some male bonding time.

A couple of hours later I received a phone call. It was Seth.

"Mom! You should see this place. It's AWESOME!! The lake is huge. I mean huge, Mom. It's really big. We're setting up camp and then going on a bike ride! Love you, bye!"

I fought the urge to call and ask "What are you doing now?" all day yesterday! I just wanted to hear everything. But I wanted Mark and the older boys to have this time together. I knew I'd hear about it all when they got back. But then, another phone call came at around 5:30. This time it was Mark.

"Hon, you should see the sunset. It's incredible here as the sun is going down with light coming through the trees. We've gathered our firewood and are about to start a campfire. The boys are having a great time." He passed the phone to Joel.

"MOM!!! WE WENT FISHING! WE RODE OUR BIKES! IT'S AWESOME! I'M HAVING THE BEST TIME EEEEEEEVVVVVVVEEEEEEERRRRRRR!!!" Yes, it was that loud! It was so cute!

The last phone call came at 9:30 as they were in their tent ready to go to sleep. They were on speaker phone. Seth started.

"Hi Mom! We've got our long socks on and ready to go to sleep. Guess what? We roasted marshmellows. It was so good. Joel had 8 and I ate TWELVE marshmellows. They were so good." Joel spoke next.

"Mom, you really should be here. Next time we go camping everyone should go. But Benjamin might fall in the lake."

They both were just chattering away about all the fun they had and what they were looking forward to the next day. They didn't catch any fish so they were hoping that they would catch some. I received some "over the phone" kisses from everyone and said goodnight.

This morning Mark called at about 10:00. He sounded exhausted. Poor guy. It was a cold night and he ended up sharing his sleeping bag with Joel. So, they didn't have a restful night exactly, but they were having a good morning.

A little while later I received a call with a screaming boy. It was Joel...

"MOM!! I CAUGHT A FISH! ISN'T THAT SO AWESOME?!"

Indeed! I was so happy for them.

They will be home later today and I will hear about the rest of their time. It sounds like they had a wonderful time. It'll be fun to go camping all together as a family, but I really am so happy that the three of them got to have that special time. I'll post pics when I get them!