Quite a slow start with this story. a lot of background stuff.
It is our first family camping trip in years; my wife Katherine, our two boys, and me, Jack. Katherine and I are both in our mid-thirties, and have been married for more than ten years now, but haven't been camping since the boys were born, but now, finally, we're off on an adventure!
We pack the far to the brim with tents, mattresses, cooking gear, drinking water, clothing, hiking gear, and enough food to feed a small army. Two young boys definitely eat as much as a small army! Four hours later, and we pull up at our camping site, a small, commercially run place in the Blue Mountains. I wanted to go to a real campsite, one without facilities or running water, but Katherine wanted the showers and ablution block that come with a proper camping ground. Maybe next time I'll get us somewhere more remote.
We set up our tents, one for us and one for the kids a couple of metres away. It is just as difficult as you'd imagine, trying to erect tents with the kids' "help". Once we were done, we pack rucksacks with food and water for a short hike, nothing too difficult with the kids, but just enough to work on our appetites and stretch our legs after being in the car so long.
As we begin walking, the kids run off ahead of us and scamper back again to make sure they haven't lost us, I watch Katherine's athletic form striding confidently in front of me, her broad shoulders carrying the weight of her rucksack effortlessly. My gaze drifts down, inevitably, to the shape of her fit bottom and legs, the muscles moving under the skin like those of a tigress. I'm so lucky she found me all those years ago, and that she asked me out - I had been too shy to do it myself.
She is beautiful, my Katherine, not with the body type so admired by television and magazines, but more like an athlete; her small, perfect breasts don't limit her freedom in activities like hiking or jogging.
As the kids run off again, I reach for her hand as we walk; we always used to walk hand-in-hand before we had our children, but afterwards it was always their hands being held, rather than us together. Still, the children are growing up now, not little babies any more, and their increased independence has resulted in a resurgence of our romantic, and sexual activities.
With the kids out of sight, I pull Katherine in to my arms, and we kiss passionately. I've always loved kissing her, the uncontrollable, growing excitement causing an uncomfortable bulge in my jeans. We've been together for almost two decades now, and still, just a kiss is all it takes to put me into a state. As we kiss she reaches down, and squeezes my bottom in her hands. Sadly, we are interrupted by the return of the children, so off we walk again, my discomfort slowly receding.
It's a very pleasant hike, the warm spring weather, wildflowers blooming in the bush, the smell of wattle surrounding us, the laughter of the children around the bend. If only days like this could last forever!
After an hour of walking, we stop for our picnic on a large granite outcrop overlooking the valley below. Sitting there in the sun, with the fresh air, with the beautiful view, my beautiful wife and kids; what I lucky man I am.
The walk back to the camp is less fun, the kids are complaining of being tired, and starting to whine. At least the path back is a shorter route, only a twenty minute walk back to the tents. The pleasurable mood of earlier has well and truly evaporated; there's nothing like crying children to bring everyone down.
The next task is getting everything ready for night, we need to gather firewood kindling and tinder for the campfire. The air mattresses needs inflating, two single beds for the kids, and a double for us. Then it unpacking sleeping bags, preparing dinner, and off to the showers before the rush of people to the ablution block.
After we are all clean, we light the fire as the sun sets. We fry sausages on a hot plate over the campfire, and serve them with fried onions, toasted buns and tomato sauce. Not the most imaginative haute cuisine, but it fits the bill when camping.
Then it's off to an early night for the kids. Ordinarily we wouldn't send them to bed this early, but it's dark, there's nothing to do, and the walk exhausted them. And, of course, they're going to be up at sunrise, the crack of dawn. Which means an early night for us too, we've got to get up with the kids in the morning, as we can't leave them unattended in a strange place, with possible dangers like wildlife, dogs, snakes, other campers, and who knows what other risks.
We get in our sleeping bags, on our comfortable air mattress, but it's really far too early for us to be sleeping; it isn't even 8pm yet! At home, we're not usually in bed until 11.