Living in California allows us to enjoy almost any type of terrain within a two hour drive; we could be at the beach, the mountains or the desert. Upon taking a vote, we packet up the old car with all we needed to make the weekend in the snow enjoyable. As we pulled out of the driveway I heard soft cries coming from the back seat, it was my youngest daughter she didn’t want to leave the dogs behind so, despite everyone’s moaning and groaning we crammed the dogs in and off we went. We had dreams of snowy mountains, the “swishing” sound of snow as we raced each other down the mountain on skis.
Climbing up the mountain was quite a chore for our car, lovingly called “bucket of bolts”, a storm was coming and I felt a little nervous going up the mountain in the dark. Of course my husband reassured me and on we went while the kids continued to fight in the back seat. I heard a loud bang and the “bucket of bolts” rolled to a stop.
Upon looking under the hood we were faced with a broken belt…a big belt! So, there we were on the side of the road in the cold dark air with four fighting kids, two dogs, no cell service, and a broken “bucket of bolts” Our night was spent in a tent…all of us in ONE tent, ONE VERY SMALL tent that we always keep in the car. Luckily for us, our children are avid campers, and adventure junkies, to them this was just another adventure. Soon they were laughing, telling ghost stories by flashlight and singing silly songs. I can’t imagine having to go through this ordeal with children that have never camped, or with children that are so addicted to their video games and computers that they have lost touch with their creative side and sadder yet, have lost touch with nature. We didn’t get to spend our weekend racing down the mountain on skies, however, we did spend the night together as a family in a tent telling stories and cuddling with the dogs. We have learned to always be prepared, we always keep a tent and a sleeping bag in the car and of course tons of water. The most important thing that we learned is take what life gives you and handle it with adventure, spirit, and trust!