CAMPING FUN

For Christmas this year Robert had been planning on getting a family gift, a tent and camping accessories.  I have NEVER camped in a tent in my entire life (and if I’m being honest, I’m not thrilled at the idea of starting now with five kiddos in tow), but the kiddos were thrilled with the gift and the idea of spending time together as a family.  Being the amazing Dad that he is, Robert agreed to let the kiddos try out their camping gear on the 26^th.  All three of my big kiddos went camping in our front yard.  The stories from that night are priceless.

The evening started off with Daddy showing three excited kiddos how to air their mattresses up and get everything set up to be comfortable.  Since they were camping in the yard, Maggie brought out her lamp, her fan, and a couple of books to read. The boys were roughing it with flashlights and their B-B Guns.  Next the quartet moved onto a lesson on how to build a campfire.  This is where I had to bring the two excited little boys inside, for their baths, Cole kept blowing the kindling for the fire out.  Pretty soon it was dark.  Sweet dreams and good night was wished and the parents headed indoors while the big kiddos stayed out.  We watched the kids through the windows.  It was so funny.  All of a sudden flashlights would go off, looking at what every little noise was.  Giggles abounded as they agreed to share not so scary campfire stories.  At last it was lights out, or so they thought.

Setting up the campers in an "at home" style! 

Working on the campfire.

Settling in for the ong night ahead!

At 2:00 AM, I was up nursing and dealing with a grumpy little man when I spotted all the lights on in the tent.  Being the good Mama that I am, I got Jacob back to sleep and ventured out across the expanse of our yard to see what the problem was.  Of course I had to make silly noises the whole way, listening to the “WHAT’S THAT??” coming from inside the confines of the tent.  It turns out Maggie’s air mattress didn’t get completely screwed shut and slowly deflated on her all night.  All three kiddos were awake trying to get her bed resituated.  Of course this made for a great story over a true campers breakfast the next morning.  Maggie came in and made us some extra fluffy camp pancakes.

All in all I think that the big kiddos had a great time camping for the first time, ever.  If the weather will cool off again, I think that there will be some more camping fun.  Who knows, with the marshmallows in the pantry now, maybe, just maybe this Mama will join them!