We still have that spontaneity! We headed out camping for 1 night with out the kiddos (thanks to my mom) on Sunday! Wooohooo! We were really looking forward to being alone! It's the end of the summer I am sure many of you parents can relate. We finally find the perfect site at Dinosaur State Park after circling the same 10 spots 4 times. While Ben pitches the tent and gets all that camping stuff ready I was given the task to get dinner going. I managed to whip up some fried chicken, broccoli salad and fruit salad and have it ready for us by the time Ben was done. (Which by the way before your super impressed I forgot to tell that we picked up dinner on the way.) As we sat there with grease dripping from our lips and hundreds of flies(exaggeration) swarming around us, I say to Ben "can't beat camping and enjoying some greasy chicken on a sweltering hot summers day in Texas". You just got to love it! Well we finally got tired of the grease, the flies and the sweat dripping from our face and backs so we headed off to find some adventure at Dinosaur Park. We rode our bikes around the campsite in search for Dinosaur tracks. I can't say we found any but we did find a nice sandy area by the river to go back to and skinny dip(just kidding). Later that night we decided to go have our little fire by the river. That was my idea! Ben being the law abiding, rule follower that he is says" I don't think we can do that Mari, let me check the policy. Let's take my little stove down by the river and roast our marshmallows."
It was our lucky nite because this was the night we were supposed to have a meteorite shower. Woohooo!! We played in the river for awhile and then got all cozy and comfortable waiting for the darkness to consume us. Finally it was dark enough to view the shimmering diamonds that were twinkling above in the vast dim sky. It was fascinating too watch these stars pop up and sweep across the sky and then disappear.
Well, as we lay on our blankets I begin to look at this very differently. All of the sudden this fascinating, romantic, cozy evening begins to look like a horror movie in my mind. So my thoughts go like this: No one is around us. We had to bike a ways from our campsite to get here. It's pitch black. We had to climb down from the path to get to the beach and we left our bikes up there. Our bikes are probably gone! No one knows were out here. Some killer can be out there in the trees waiting to hurt us. We will never see our children again! Needless to say this thinking was definitely changing my mood. Ben leans over to kiss me and I tell him you know I just can't be romantic when my mind keeps thinking someone is hiding in those bushes. So we leave and go back to our campsite. So much for the adventurous, spontaneous Mari my husband married. It's over. I really believe once you have kids this new instinct kicks in. Not the instinct of fear but this instinct to be cautious. Your cautious about everything! Well in spite of this instinct we had a blast! It was sooo much fun to frolic and talk with Ben. Just sitting there in front of the fire hearing the wood crackle and having nothing to say. I love that comfortable silence. (actually that took years for me to be able to say, I used to want deep conversation all the time)
