Saturday, April 21, 2007

OSSP Camping Trip


We just got back from a week long family camping trip and what a wonderful time we had! We stayed on the west coast of Florida for 5 nights in Oscar Sheerer State Park. It was a beautiful campground with shady, private campsites. We saw cardinals, cat birds, owls, herons, egrets, raccoons, cotton tail rabbits, armadillos and alligators, to name a small portion of the abundant wildlife. We went canoeing, fishing, swimming, shell and fossilized shark tooth collecting, sunset watching, hiking and even on an airboat ride. To say that our week was full of adventure would be a slight understatement. I’m not sure what activities we liked the best. All of the adventures blended together into a family memory which will not soon be forgotten. It was wonderful to be able to indulge ourselves in full days without aches, pains or other ailments sometimes associated with active vacations. Having children later in life has been full of challenges, but because of our commitment to a healthy and vibrant lifestyle, none of the challenges have been related to those commonly associated with aging. Now that I’ve had a few moments to reflect, I think all of us would say that our favorite activity was tuning into an “oldies” radio station and dancing in the car to some songs that reminded us of our life long before children. Somehow, the songs seemed richer and certainly more memorable when shared with our children with great enthusiasm and vigor. I never knew a 6 year old and 8 year old could be so creative while “dancing” in their car seats!

No comments: