Sometimes it's a blessing to forget your camera...

We went camping as a family at Manchester State Park on Tuesday night. Our good friends, the Ochsner's, came down to join us for dinner (which you'll be surprised to hear was chicken cordon bleu over the campfire - and it was great!). The kids were all playing together and it was so cute that I went to take a picture, and click - nothing. I'd left the memory card in the computer at home. I was bummed, but I got over it. So after having a nice evening with the Ochsner's, we sat at our campsite watching them drive away and wondering if it was really worth trying to get Eldon (who was writhing around in Jon's arms b/c he wanted to go eat more rocks) to sleep in a tent with us. We decided it wasn't. So I drove the 7 minutes back home and dropped Jon and Eldon off to sleep in their comfy beds, then Eve and I went back to campsite 47.
The campsite, incidentally, was absolutely beautiful - covered in huge ferns and ancient maples. And luckily for us, there were no other campers within 3 sites of us in any direction, which made it even more peaceful. The fire was still burning bright as we pulled in, so Eve and I went over and I held her while trying to remember some camp songs from Girl's Camp to teach her. All I could think of was the Spiderweb song and "Walk Tall, You're a Daughter of God". So I sang those for her (she didn't seem all that interested at the time, but she told me afterward that that was her favorite part of our campout). We went to the tent to put on our jammies. After doing so and brushing our teeth in the nearby bathroom (with flushing toilets!), we retired to our tent to read some books and go to sleep. I read to Eve, and then she asked me to tell her a story, and then she told me one... somewhere in there she said, "Mom, are you asleep?" Oops, I guess I was. I apologized and she kept telling me about the adventures of her stuffed dog, Spot, and we both drifted off to sleep quite quickly.
I woke up an hour or two later and the rest of the night wasn't so great. I was plenty comfy - I just couldn't stay asleep. Oh well, that's really nothing new. At least Eve slept through the night. When morning really finally came (I swear it was light for 4 hours before it was actually morning), we got up and had muffins for breakfast and broke camp. I thought about going home, but it was so peaceful and quiet there (NOBODY else was awake. I had no idea what time it was). I thought of the chaos I'd meet in my messy house, and decided to enjoy this beautiful place a little longer. I asked if Eve wanted to go for a walk, and lucky for me, she did. We walked to the tidepools and played for quite a while there. It was so gorgeous. The sun was warm and the sand sparkled like diamonds and felt cool on my feet. We waved at the ferry as it passed and looked for seashells and wrote in the sand with sticks. We found flower-like anemones in the tidepools and watched them pull shut when we touched their 'petals' with our fingers. On the trail back, we came upon a darling woman with white ringlet hair and a sweet old yellow lab, who just happened to be named Eve. What a find! Eve, my little dog-lover, had met a dog who shared her name. The woman kept purring about what a beautiful girl Eve was and how she loved her hair. She was really sweet. It was a nice way to end the morning.
I was grateful for the chance to set the camera aside and really be in the moment and enjoy it. Sometimes I get too caught up in taking the perfect picture, when really what I should be creating is memories. I love my little girl and I'm thankful we had a special campout together, and I'm thankful to my Heavenly Father for reminding me of what's important, and for awing me once again with the beauties of this earth.