The Big 5 at Malaekahana

Five. Not much if you think in terms of minutes, or days, or dollars. But, in years, well, it's a big deal for this mom. Five! That means kindergarten, halfway to ten, and great responsibilities---like figuring out how to tie those shoelaces!

Or put together a tent in the case of our new five year old. This year, we celebrated one son becoming a teenager by camping out with centipedes (see other blogpost: Camping at Waimanalo Bay) and the other son exiting preschool age...with, yep, camping! Apparently milestones in our house are rewarded with sleeping in a tent, smelling of campfire, and roasting marshmallows.

Or "campfire brownies" in Zach's case this past weekend. Last month when we celebrated my older son Gabe at Waimanalo campgrounds, Zach decided there was no other way to celebrate than to camp out too. We secured a spot at our usual camp grounds---Friends of Malaekahana.

http://www.malaekahana.net

Here's what you need to celebrate your next milestone in style at your nearest campground:

1. A milestone worthy of getting dirty for 

2. A waterproof tent (it always rains at some point during our campout)

3. Nature scavenger hunt skills (perfect solution to "I'm B O R E D!" scenario)

4. Fire building skills 

5. Wild chicken shoo-ing skills (Malaekahana Campground specific)

6. Marshmallows (and for those on a special diet like myself, there are "natural"  marshmallows called Dandies that are phenomenal)

7. Horseshoes (entertainment lifesaver when our beach plans were thwarted due to brown water...yucky yuck yuck yuck!)

8. Hammock (I'd like to note that this particular item is needed for all future outdoor activities. This was our first campout that included a hammock...it was divine! Booklovers, nap lovers, lazy lovers, five year olds---all of these niches loved the hammock!)

9. On the fly, creative campsite celebratory dessert making skills (Did ya see the "campfire brownies"?)

10. Socks (I've decided that I can't be bothered with flies, mosquitos, any flying swarming bug. My handy dandy camping themed socks solved the problem. Either my legs looked too scary with the socks/Birkenstock combo for creatures to bother attacking...or socks are the perfect non chemical barrier!)

With each camping trip logged, I can't help but think how lucky we are to live this Hawaii life. From the beautiful weather (despite impending Hurricane Madeline), to the people, to the ability to spend a weekend camping at the beach.

I hope that spending time together as a family outside will become great memories for both boys. But, if not, at least we got some fun photos, another excuse to eat s'mores, a new love of hammocks, and camp socks out of it! 

Wouldn't want to celebrate our boys growing up any other way! Happy 5th to the wackiest camper in our family, wacky Zachy.