who we aren't.

Where does August go?  This last stretch of late summer almost has a frantic feel to it at times, don't you think?  We try to squeeze all the things we hoped to accomplish into the last few precious weeks of kid freedom before the new school year begins.  See the people we hoped to see, visit the familiar places that summer traditions are made of, and of course, take some new adventures along the way.

Our most recent adventure involved my clan visiting a farm in central Maine for three days of what I will describe as "summer camp for the whole family".  We slept in a tent, ate all our meals outdoors and got our hands (and feet, and faces, and ears and just about every other body part one can imagine) dirty.  We were 100% off the grid with no running water, no Wifi, no cell service, no land line telephone and no electricity.

There could have been a zombie apocalypse last weekend and we would have been none the wiser. 

When we first arrived and headed to our tent to unpack our things my husband looked at me nervously and said "are you going to be okay here?"  The honest answer would have been "NO!  Of course I'm not going to be okay here!  Did we just meet?"  But in the name of being a happy camper (and since the whole thing was my idea in the first place) I simply replied with a cool "Of course I am.  Are YOU going to be okay here?"  

Mind you, this is the same man who completed a half year wilderness leadership training program and does 24 hour mountain bike races through rain and mud.  For me to ask him if he was going to be okay with two nights of glamping was 100% ridiculous and we both knew it...but he played along and told me he'd be just fine.

photo I took of our tent before my phone battery died.

So in we dove.  

The kids set out with chipper attitudes and dirty feet to fulfill my Mama dream of a family summer vacation that doesn't involve a water slide or amusement park.  Despite our glass-is-half-full outlook those first few hours on the farm were a little hairy, I'm not going to lie.  

Then, somewhere between wondering if I had made a terrible mistake and wishing we had packed some wine after all...a funny thing happened.  We pulled it together!

Patrick and I stopped giving each other dirty looks and started putting a hand on a knee or giving a tap on the back when we needed it.  We all started checking in on one another to make sure we were "doing okay".  We realized we have family inside jokes!  Who knew?  We belly laughed about the giant toad that hopped on Patrick's foot while taking a solar shower, and our daughter asking me for a high five as we peed side by side on the "2-holer".

We appreciated our hosts for all that they are while being gentle on ourselves for all that we aren't.  I stopped feeling silly and ashamed for being the kind of girl who enjoys coffee, sparkly things, warm showers and the occasional US Weekly magazine.

I just loved these two together.  Also, Ben Affleck and Jen Garner???  Ugh - such a bummer.

  

We opened our minds and started to learn.  And learn we did.  

Things We Learned From the Program:

• Get serious about recycling.  For real this time.
• Serve the kids smaller portions at meals so they can eat what they have and ask for more if they want it.
• I want to grow more food.
• How to make whipped cream from scratch.
• My hands are capable of using tools other than a keyboard and mouse.
• Read more books with no pictures to the kids.
• Our basement can be used as a root cellar to keep apples and such through the winter.  It has a dirt floor - why not?
• Think more about the planet, the things that live on it, and the impact we have while we're here.

I also learned how to make this basket.

Things We Learned About Us:

• We enjoy cleanliness. 
• If given three hours of free "family time" we will use it to have hot wings, cheese fries and beer at a local pub.
• It turns out we're all pretty crafty in our own way.
• We're loud (especially me).  We talk loud, we sing loud, we laugh loud we like our music loud.  And mostly we're okay with that.
• We need to cut back on sugar.  
• Laughter and not taking ourselves too seriously are a big part of who we are.
• Reggae is the only music we all agree on.
• We are a team.

My people.  Eating wings like they had been locked in a closet for a week when we should have been on a hike or something.

So, while my idyllic vision of our family wilderness weekend didn't exactly pan out the way I thought it would - it ended up being an entirely different kind of gift.  We did, of course, get an education about homesteading and sustainable living during our time on the farm, and that was great.  But the really important learning we did was about one another.  

Because in the process of finding out who we aren't, we came together.  

And got a better idea of who we are.