A few weeks back Stephanie wrote a post titled Five Reasons to Camp Close to Home.  It was a good one for a variety of reasons–five of them to be exact.  I really liked reason #4, “don’t miss out on important weekend commitments.” Max and Theo are currently obsessed with t-ball–which means they really don’t want to miss their Saturday morning games.  I admire their dedication and am pretty pumped about this new development in their lives.  You see, I love baseball too.

But I also love taking the RV out after a long week at work.  You see the conflict, right?  This past weekend we camped at Turkey Swamp Park in Freehold, NJ--about 20 minutes from home.  We played catch until dark on Friday night, and made the t-ball game Saturday morning.  We were back at the campground for lunch. Conflict resolved.  Camping weekend saved.  Harmony restored to the universe.

After five seasons of RVing it’s hard to believe that we never camped at Turkey Swamp before.  We absolutely loved it.  Our site was huge, and it overlooked the playground.  We didn’t ask to be next to the playground like we normally do. A thoughtful Park Ranger picked the spot for us after I told him that we had three kids. The boys played on the playground for hours and hours. At the end of the day they were tired, sweaty, dirty, exhausted, and most importantly–ready for bed!

All of the spots at Turkey Swamp are large pull throughs that cut off the road and then back onto it.  They don’t cut across from one row to the next like most pull throughs do.  This made all of the sites large and private.  Good luck finding sites this size at a private campground. Not gonna happen. All of the sites had water and electric–but bring a hose extension if you come.  Water hook ups are far apart from electric hook ups.

Our close to home camping weekend turned out to be a special one for three reasons. Firstly, Stephanie and I were able to take turns kayaking without the kids on Saturday, and on Sunday we rented a canoe and the whole family went for a relaxing paddle. We saw finches and blue jays and water snakes.  At the end of our family canoe ride, as we approached the shore,  Stephanie thought that one of the boys was about to jump out.  So she pounced on him. Unfortunately, mom’s heroism sent dad flying over the side of the canoe. Stephanie found this to be very funny. So did several families who were fishing on a nearby dock!

The second reason why our weekend trip rocked?  The Sisters on the Fly were also camping at Turkey Swamp.  Who are the Sisters? They are a group of daring ladies who travel in lovingly restored vintage RV’s and handmade teardrops and the like. The Sisters bring all kinds of sass and style to every campground that they visit. Taking pictures of their vintage RV’s was more exciting for me than a Sports Illustrated swimsuit shoot–and Stephanie didn’t mind me taking pictures of these bathing beauties!

Our friend and fellow blogger, Janine Pettit, even gave us a tour of her rig! It was comfy and cozy and stepping into it felt like stepping into a time machine.  After our tour Janine offered the boys fruit snacks.  They accepted. Janine=Fairy God Mother.

But the most important reason why our weekend was so sweet and magical? …MOM.  For the fourth or fifth year in a row we took her camping on Mother’s Day. She wouldn’t have it any other way.  Stephanie loves RVing, she loves campground culture, and she loves experiencing nature with her children.  The boys wanted to go fishing on Mother’s day–and she was more than game.

Stephanie is an adventurous mom, and she is raising adventurous boys.  They are not afraid to try new things and they greet each day with hyperkinetic energy and determination.  They get those things from her.

I am so thankful that we went camping close to home this weekend–and I’m so thankful that I married a camping mom.

Onward.