Roughin' It

You guys!!  I just did something that I haven't done since I was 18, maybe 19.

C A M P I N G

Or maybe it was more like GLAMPING, but that's okay.  At first when I was asked by my good friend and her hubby if I wanted to go camping with them, my first reaction was nope.  There was no way I was going to spend my summer with the very bugs I despised, in the woods completely cut off from the world and the possibility of (gasp!) no showers.

Welcome to #firstworldproblems.

In the end, it didn't take long for them to convince me that it would be an amazing experience for my kids, and then my kids chimed in, "Let's go, let's go!" and that was the end of that.  We were going camping!

All I had to do was sit back and wait of the start of summer.  My friends were taking care of everything - booking the campsite, getting the food and drinks, and making sure the kids would be entertained for four days.  Jadon had been excitedly talking about our camping trip for the most part of June (his teacher said that's all he talked about for the last two weeks of school) and Zoë just couldn't wait to sleep in a tent.

Okay, so we did have a few things that we needed to round up for our camping trip.  First things first, I secured an amazing ride from Ford Canada (we loved our experience last year!) - a Ford Edge Titanium.  It has all the bells and whistles that a busy parent, like myself, needs with a growing family.  There's enough room in the trunk for hockey gear, camping gear, everyday gear and everything gear, as well as many safety features that give this busy mama a piece of mind.

Last year I raved about the Intelligent Access key fob - as long as the key is in your pocket or purse and you're within a couple feet from the car, the door unlocks by itself (I repeat, BY ITSELF!!), leaving you with two hands to wrangle your active toddler or the 500 bags of groceries.  The MyKey® Safety System is also a great feature for those of you with older kids that are just learning how to drive and allows for owners to restrict certain features to promote better driving habits.

For those of you that have travelled the Sea to Sky Highway, you probably know that the stretch of road from Vancouver to Squamish (and Whistler) is full of twists and turns.  This is where the Driver Assist features come into play, including Enhanced Active Park Assist, Adaptive Cruise Control (I didn't have a chance to try this because, buttons, but perhaps next time), Lane-Keeping System (the best!), Adaptive Steering (also the best!) and Intelligent All-Wheel Drive.  Just to feel these features being activated while driving the Sea to Sky gave me the extra piece of mind that my family would be safe and sound should anything happen.

Back to camping prep.  While we did have everything planned for us, I did end up spending the day before searching for camping gear over the course of 7-8 hours (a huge thanks to my bro who tagged along and helped entertain the kids while I wandered aimlessly from store to store LOL).  I just wanted to make sure I didn't forget anything.  Must be that Type A personality or something.  I swear I'm half Type A and half Type B (yes, I totally just Googled it).

Fast forward to the actual days we were camping and I felt like I was in a dream.  A good one.  I had a few chefs on one side and a few babysitters on the other.  The beers were flowing and once the kids went to bed, so did the shots.  We roasted marshmallows nightly, had gourmet meals (and even maybe a BBQ fire LOL), attempted a failed beach day (even at 35 degrees Celsius, the wind made it seem more like 20 degrees), braved the cold showers and fought off an endless army of mosquitoes.

And repeat.

And repeat.

This was pretty much my life for the next four days and I was loving it.  I was relaxed with no care in the world (Type B), but was also intent on making sure the kids went to bed (sort of) on time (Type A).

The conclusion?  WE CANNOT WAIT UNTIL NEXT YEAR'S CAMPING TRIP!!!!

THE END.

kristina xo


Photo credit (partial):  Modern Fort