On a beautiful day at the end of May, the miserable boy sat whining in the back seat of his parents' truck. They were on their way to Red Creek to spend the weekend camping. However, their son, Justin, wanted nothing to do with this family outing. He felt as though he should be at the mall with his friends seeing the latest American Pie movie, instead of having to hang out with his boring family. Justin's disappointed parents just sat in the front seat ignoring his hostile behavior. When the family finally arrived at the barren campsite, Justin ran off alone and left his parents with the job of unpacking and setting up.

Eventually, he returned to see his parents laughing and playing a card game. This discouraged Justin even more; he thought to himself about how much fun he could be having at the mall with his friends. His parents were enjoying themselves without him anyways. He continued on throughout the rest of the night with this negative attitude. In the morning, he woke to find his parents dressed for the beach. They told him to get ready, and they were all going to have a good day by the ocean.

As they began to lay out their towels and beach chairs on the sand, Justin's mom told him to drop the ridiculous behavior because they were going to have a fun day whether he wanted to be a part of it or not. Grumpily, he sat down on his beach towel thinking he could never actually have fun with them. Justin's parents left him there pouting to walk along the beach. They occupied themselves looking for sea shells and pointing out the pretty colored rocks.

Finally by lunch time, Justin was ready to participate in the fun. He decided to just make the best of the rest of weekend because he had nothing better to do. Justin and his parents went out for a lunch of ice cream and French fries, which also helped lighten his mood. When they returned to the beach, Justin ran right out to the water and jumped in. His parents, happy to see their son acting like himself again, joined him in the ocean. The family swam for hours, glad to finally be spending time together.

The following day, they were all sad to be going home. Justin helped pack up their belongings and put them in the truck. During the drive back to their neighborhood, Justin apologized to his parents for being so negative about the camping trip. He told them how much fun he had and hoped they would go again sometime soon.

When the family arrived back home, Justin's mom told him to invite his friends over and she would make them all a special dinner. Justin was very grateful to hear this. She even allowed them to spend the night and brought all the boys to the mall the next day. Justin finally realized that his parents really aren't that bad. They do a lot for him and always try to make him happy. He decided to spend more time with them and give them the respect they deserve.