kids in camp.

camping with matthew makes me think that we've lived in a tent our whole lives and that we could be quite content to live that exact life into eternity. he is my best friend and my true love and my most favorite of all the people in all the world.

evy is afraid of bugs. all kinds of bugs. i imagine that camping is like an indiana jones obstacle course for her, with caterpillar traps and spider web dangers. she was more scared of the fuzzy caterpillar than the crawdad (how does that work?).

evy also decided that she is scared of heights. and trying new things without holding on to mom. i'm learning to differentiate between her screams, but most of the time i can't tell whether she's got an ant on her foot or she is being murdered.

once evy overcomes her fears and proves herself brave she's on top of the world. camping with evy is like riding the tower of terror. at the time you think, "why did i come on this ride" but afterwards you're like, "let's do it again!"

ossi is our dare devil. he's first to try everything and there's always another scheme cooking. here he is waiting on the zip-line platform for daddy to come barreling down...

he bails just in time. he is pretty self-aware and physically capable, though his slow processing speed can sometimes be a bother. when trying to catch salamanders in the lake we noticed that ossi was just a fraction of a second too slow every time. once he got the hang of anticipating their escape he started to catch the squishy guys.

camping with ossi is like watching a toddler devour a fudgsicle for the first time. you can't help but smile watching him dive right in, even if the result is a sticky mess.

liam caught 32 salamanders in one day. he carried the same diligence in camp that he did during the school year in class. whatever he does, he tries hard at it until he becomes an expert. he became an expert at jumping off the zip line into the pond at the perfect moment (but not before he learned the hard way about losing your swim trunks if you're not careful).

liam is a student, a learner. he observes and tries things at a steady pace with a calm enthusiasm.

camping with liam seems to halt time. it's like observing the swing of a hammock in slow-motion.

finn is everywhere. he is nature-boy. he doesn't wear shoes when we camp and is hard-pressed to wear any clothes at all. finn is a bit afraid of sharing nature with critters, though he loves them dearly. he has a curious relationship with wild animals. he wanted to save all of the salamanders but he didn't like the idea of swimming with them. eventually he gave in and took the zip line into the lake, which turned into his favorite thing.

finn loves fire, as boys do. we're constantly telling him to put the sticks back into the pit.

camping with finn is like observing a beautiful bird from a distance. you want it to stay just like that, right there. you'd love to tame it but you know if you tried it would leave and take it's magic from you. so it's better to sit back and love it while it flies about.