Upon a strong suggestion from my wife for some free time I quickly obliged to take my 3 children camping at Devil's Den State Park, which is located in the heart of Northwest Arkansas and only 30 minutes from my home. Like the Real Estate Business, camping with 3 kids also has the first impression to an outsider that it should be relatively easy and cheap. Ultimately the trip began at the local grocery store gathering the necessary food and beverage items to keep the little campers happy. That was the first of my suprises because it cost me $190.00 to walk out of that Neighborhood Market! WHAT!>? WERE ONLY STAYING FOR TWO NIGHTS! UUGGGHHH! Like the new agents sometimes find, it can cost more that you expect sometimes just to get started.
The next suprise came as we were checking in for the camp site. I mentioned to the attendant we should probably be located not so close to anyone who may get offended by a strong-willed screaming 4 year old girl or an antagonistic / pestering little 5 year old brother with a sarcastic and creative 10 year old going on sixteen year-old sister who loves to jump on the last nerve of all those around who may have a different expectation of the schedule of events than herself. Mainly my schedule of events that included NAPS for ALL the kids upon reaching the campsite. The Park attendant said we should really enjoy this particular camping area as it is smaller and very convenient to everything... "Everything", I asked? "Yes" she said, "But, I do believe the bathrooms in that area are out of order still, they are being renovated." "Renovated? I think we may have to RELOCATE, you see I have the 4, 5 and 10 year old who don't always appreciate the opportunity to "water" the grass in the woods behind a tree." She quickly placed us in a much nicer locale which was much more expensive, approx. $20 more per night but you know what location does for you. So in camping as it is in real estate the 3 Most Important Things are of course: LOCATION, LOCATION, LOCATION!
The kids, I determined, can be much like my real estate clients in that they are nevershy about the cost or effort required for ME to do whatever it is that THEY need at any time. It was often challenging keeping the two smaller children out of the camp fire while assisting in assembling SMORES. It proved to be a sticky negotiating situation.
Ultimately, my five year old, Jackson, only burned my ten year old, Mackenzie, once with a burning stick and my four year old, Caroline, went to bed fairly early both nights which made it much easier on me.
In the end, we had a great time hiking approximately 8 miles and climbing through some of the caves, cooking on the grill and enjoying each others company which can sometimes be hard to come by as a full-time Realtor. The end result was very similar to most of my clients transactions when we say, "They are HAPPY CAMPERS!"
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