Wednesday, May 13, 2009

Nature Girl

I've come to the realization that I am going to have to learn to love camping and fishing and general outdoorsiness.

Now I've been camping and fishing when I was younger. I liked sleeping in tents, it was an adventure. Except when it rained and the tent leaked. I've been fishing and had fun. Until I had to touch a fish, then it wasn't so fun. I like hiking. (Shut up Sonja, I do too.) Well I guess I should qualify that as I like hiking on our nice rolling glacial trails in Wisconsin not on suicidal mountain missions in the Rockies and the Adirondacks that my friends like to drag me on.

So I like nature. I have an appreciation for its beauty. Its just that if I am going on vacation, I would much rather stay in a city. A city with museums and restaraunts and shops. And hotels. Hotels with spas and room service if possible.

But my daughter is a nature girl at heart. She loves animals and bugs and dirt. And she would love to be as close as humanly possible to those things. When I am out gardening, she follows behind me looking for worms to play with. She makes leaf sandwiches for the ants to eat. She loves scampering along trails looking for chipmunks, squirrels and birds.



If she knew that you could go to the woods, sleep in a tent and be surrounded by nature, she would demand we go at once. Who cares about pillows and nice comfy beds when you can see animals and bugs?

So this summer we'll be taking small steps. Visiting nature centers, farms and lakes. We'll experiment, we'll get dirty, we'll get our feet wet. And hopefully I'll learn to love it as much as she does.


10 comments:

Christy said...

Oh I'm a real nature girl at heart too. Except I hate bugs. HATE them. But I love camping. LOVE it. Love sleeping in a tent. Cooking dinner on a stove. Hiking really hard, really long trails in the woods.

I suggest you try cabin camping first, before you go tent camping. Find a nice park near you with cabins with picnic tables and fire pits outside, and bunkbeds inside. Remember to bring LOTS of blankets - to pad the 'mattress' with. Even when we go tent camping, we use self-inflatable mattresses and lots of blankets and pillows from home. I just wash EVERYTHING when we return.

Hope you have fun! I'm sure there will be some good blog stories out of your adventures this summer.

michelle said...

If you'd like to take Ivie fishing sometime, let me know. I have everything we could possibly need to accomplish that goal....including lots of wetwipes...

rachel... said...

So funny, I am just like you, and your daughter is just like my oldest! I hope you enjoy your ease into camping!

Kate Coveny Hood said...

I like nature when it's pretty and not itchy. Why is nature usually so itchy?

EatPlayLove said...

We've had some lovely sunshine filled days lately and my girls will not come in! They love getting dirty, collecting bugs, and chasing butterflies.

You have the right idea, start slowly, you'll maybe find a new appreciation for all of it!

Mocha Dad said...

My daughter was terrified of bugs when she was younger. Now she goes in the backyard and collects spiders.

MamaCarter said...

Muah ha ha ha. Evil hiking is GOOD. Or so I've heard.

Anonymous said...

The Midge is a quasi nature girl, so every summer I let her pitch a tent in the back yard and camp out with dad while I sleep in the house. Of course, they do run electricity out to the tent so they can stay up late watching movies on the portable DVD player...

g'ma marsha said...

I am pulling and weeding and digging and raking. The worms abound. Bring her over. She'd be in her element.

anymommy said...

You're such a great mom. Take bug spray ;-)