Expectations

A little rain (that's it!) and the kids enjoyed hours of biking through mud puddles, who knew?

Karis quote of the week (one of many!): "Doing dishes like this is just like the OLDEN DAYS!"

Eden and Josiah Banninga fishing at the pond.

A couple of months ago we reserved our spot at Lakewood Christian Campground where the bi-line is "We pamper the camper" (I'm not kidding!). Since that time all we heard from people around here was groans followed by "You're not going THERE are you?" How do you respond to that? At first I was looking forward to a "Family Camp" type of experience - then my dreams were dashed. What had I gotten myself in to? I held to my guns though and decided that it would be a good thing to experience. We set our expectations VERY LOW.

Tuesday morning George drops me and the kids off - gets the camper set up and goes back to London for a couple days of work (it's about 1 hr away). Expectations still LOW.

Tuesday afternoon we find a HUGE playground around the corner from our site. The kids try their hand at fishing in the pond that is practically ON our site. We discover beautiful Lake Huron which is a 5 minute bike ride away. We jump in the pool which is not only big, but clean and not too cold (plus a bonus baby pool!). Expectations RAISED (significantly).

The week continued ... the kids made oodles of friends (so hard to say good-bye at the end of the week!). I enjoyed hours of peace and quiet as the kids biked around the campground and played at the playground. We deepened our friendship with the Banninga family (who so kindly invited us to join them in their week at Lakewood - thank you!). A good time was had by all.

All this to say that sometimes we need to trust our gutt feeling about something, ignore the "insights" and thoughtless comments of others, and rely on what we believe to be right for our family at this time in our lives. Lakewood may not be the best place for some people - but it sure was a great place for our family last week! The kids are already begging to go back for another week this summer! We set our expectations low and they were blown out of the water.

Our next camping experience won't be until the end of August when we rough it (no pampering the camper) at Cypress Lake near Tobermory, Ontario - seriously, this is going to be roughing it - no electric, no water (talk about the olden days!). This time - no expectations, except that we will enjoy one another while we enjoy God's creation!