Camping trip

We've been saying all summer we would try camping with the kids, but we never tried it until this weekend. The kids have never slept in a tent or outside, so when we got the invitation to go on a real camping trip with another family, we... declined. Nothing worse than being stuck far from home, in a tent, with kids screaming that they can't sleep because they're scared! So what is this post about, then? We camped in our backyard, of course!

We cracked open the box on the tent we bought years ago, set it up in the backyard and let the anticipation build. And build. And build. Haley was so excited to camp outside that we wished we'd waited until later to put up the tent. She had herself and Zoe into their pajamas at about 3 in the afternoon. She did her best 6-year-old effort at packing the essentials. She had the bedtime stories, a blankie, a lovie, a comb and her outfit for the next day all packed in the box her Build-a-Bear came in. She even packed her toothbrush. "Uh, Haley, we're going to brush our teeth inside, before we go into the tent. We don't have running water in the tent." "Oh."

Finally, after dinner, we all got into the spirit of "camping." I found the lyrics to a camp song I sang when I was young called "The other day, I met a bear." The kids had fun repeating the lines back to me around the campfire we built in our firepit. We roasted marshmallows and made s'mores. (Note the anxious expression on Zoe's face when she roasted hers - she wouldn't let us do it for her, but she was nervous all the same!)

Once it was dark, we played flashlight tag: one person aims the flashlight at something in the yard, and everyone has to rush to tag the light. After a last game of Follow the Leader, we headed inside the tent for bedtime stories and lights out.

The kids were pretty excited and it took awhile to settle down, but Haley eventually fell asleep. Zoe, on the other hand, was showing no signs of sleeping, so I eventually handed her off to Bill in frustration. She eventually fell asleep in her own bed, and Bill and I enjoyed the last remains of the fire on the patio before separating for bed - me in the tent with Haley, and Bill upstairs with Zoe.

It's been awhile since I slept outside - it wasn't an easy night for an older me. :) Sleeping bags are confining, the evening got progressively colder, the crickets were chirping and the coyotes started howling. Eventually I slept, too, until the wee hours of the morning when I heard a zipper open. Haley had woken up and was going to leave the tent to go outside. When she saw I was awake, she crawled into my sleeping bag to snuggle and we shared a few laughs about our tent experience.

Then, from outside the tent, I hear "Mommy? Mommy?" Zoe had woken up, left her room, gone downstairs and out the back door to the tent at 6:30am to find me, leaving Bill asleep upstairs, clueless that his youngest had left the house! We'll just have to assume she won't do that when there's no tent outside!

Overall, a memorable experience and one that will probably be repeated many times over the years! Perfect campsite, if you ask me!