
so we’re back, and not only do i have pictures, i also bring with me a nugget of camping wisdom for y’all that goes a little something like this: when tent camping, it’s kind of nice not to forget your tent.
i know, right? who even needs to be told that? except apparently
i do, and though i have a reasonable explanation for how i managed this glaring oversight, it doesn’t actually matter, because
i forgot the tent.


luckily the trusty neighborhood meijer had a small selection of quasi-cheap family tents, so we picked one up on our way in and voila, we are now a two-tent family. (and just think: i have doubled the odds of remembering at least one shelter next time.)
aside from that little bump, a splendid time was had by all*.



our loop of campsites was empty nearly all week, just us and a stand of trees and a night prowler that may or may not have been a polar bear, depending on the enthusiasm of your imagination. (for the record: i think it was likely a deer.)

we had strawberry-marshmallow-cookie-s'mores and forays into little black creek, hot chocolate mornings, hours of sand and a constant wind off the lake that ruffled and soothed us to sleep each night.


we had caterpillar rescue missions, card games, minnow chasing, pool excavating, and a gusty trek along the shoreline of lake michigan. it's not exactly mokuleia, but this stretch of water has got a beauty and grey-frothed allure all its own.


but the thing i like best about camping is how we get to
be with our kids. no schedule, no pre-packaged entertainment, just the whole bunch of us together digging pools in the sand.
*so my court-buddy lisa asked how we were holding up during this wait, and i mentioned how everything we do has the air of someone missing. it was true; the whole camping trip i kept picturing our smallest in the flock, or doing the mother-sweep and panicking when i came up one short. please continue to pray with us that we'll be able to return for him soon. thanks, friends.