Backyard Camping

The kids have been wanting to go camping so Brett and Brendan, our neighbor, told the kids they would take them camping in our backyard. They were going to camp on Saturday night but rain was forcasted so at about 3:00 in the afternoon Friday we decided they should camp Friday night instead. We went to the pool and we started talking about the camping plans and realized neither of us had anything to cook out for the campfire. We decided we'd order pizza instead because the kids don't know you're supposed to cook out when you camp. We invited other neighbors over too and everyone just brought whatever they had for us to snack on. It was actually lots of fun because there was no planning and everyone just brought what they had and there was no pressure.

The dads had lots of help from the kids putting the tents up.

Brett got our tent up very quickly and the kids had a blast playing around in it. We realized we registered for the tent for our wedding and Brett's brothers and sister got it for us and in our 11 years of marriage it's been used 3 times now.

Our neighbors had a tent that their dad gave to them that is about 20-25 years old and it was much more complicated to pitch.

After lots of people trying to figure it out it's looking more like a tee pee than a tent.

Have no fear, Brett was involved so he would figure this thing out even if it took all night. He's just like that. He is a very dertermined engi-nerd! About an hour to hour and a half after everyone trying to figure the tent out they finally got it. It sure was entertaining watching them all try to figure it out!

After getting the tents set up, eating pizza and snacks and hanging out/playing, we headed across the street to roast smores. I was going to make smores in the microwave because I'm so outdoorsy like that but our neighbor insisted we go to their house and use their fire pit to roast marshmallows.

Cade with his first smore!

Cade remembered that we had some glow sticks that we found when cleaning out the drawers in the guest bedroom as we were getting it ready for the nursery so we went home to get them and the kids had a great time glowing. It was fun to watch them jump on the trampoline because it was so dark you could hardly see the kids but you could see the glowing bracelets/necklaces going up and down.

Molly, our teenage neighbor, showed the kids a new trick. If you rub the end of the glow stick or break it in half the juice comes out and you can write on yourself and/or your clothes. Lovely.

After smores and glow sticks we headed back to our houses and the kids got their pjs on. Yes, they are wearing flannel and footies at the end of July. It gets in the 50s at night, even in July! A little flashlight tag before bed time.

It was pretty late at night and our 3 year old neighbor fell asleep while getting his pjs on so he didn't sleep in the tents. The 5 year old had a melt down about which tent he was sleeping in so he chose to go sleep in his bed instead of the tent. Maddi, Cade, Grace, Brett and Brendan were the only brave souls to brave the tent for the night.

They were super excited and I was excited that I was on my way to sleep indoors in my cozy bed.

To finish off the camping experience Brett went to get donuts for breakfast. So the only part that was really like camping was the fact that they slept in tents but like I said, the kids don't know the difference and thought it was great. Poor Maddi woke up with her allergies driving her nuts. Should have known since we can't open the windows because it bothers her allergies that camping would be even worse. Everyone was pretty worn out. Cade even fell asleep watching tv later that day and slept for almost 3 hours. That's the kind of camping that I can handle!