Backyard Camping

James, James, James.

His summer bucket list included a camping trip (no surprise). Bobby and I don't camp (also no surprise). But something possessed me to agree to ONE family camp out this summer...one night...in our backyard...I promised to stay in the tent all night...I would get the cot. Weeks passed and James didn't mention it again. I thought maybe he would let it slide. Nope. His timing was PERFECT, though, when he brought it up again. We had just slogged through a nasty hot and humid week and suddenly here was a cool, dry, sunny day just begging for outdoor activities. I had no excuses. And I was in a really good mood after working in the garden all day. Let's do it!

We invited some friends to a grill out: hamburgers, hot dogs, and Beyond Burgers. We roasted marshmallows, too, made s'mores. The kids picked every single slightly blue blueberry off of our bushes. It was a good day to do it...the berries were sweet and delicious and perfectly blueberry-flavored.

After our friends went home, we put up the tent, threw out some camp chairs, and lit a wood fire in the charcoal grill :) Mathew and James were especially excited about the "real fire!" Matthew said, "I can't believe it's a really real fire that I can see!" They instantly remembered the camp out Bobby took them on last summer where Matthew mysteriously acquired 2nd degree burns on his back without anyone noticing when or how. He doesn't even have scars now. And he doesn't remember any of it.

I asked for a blanket to keep the mosquitoes from biting me.

Alice got the idea to tell stories one line at a time, each person taking a turn. That was hilarious. And gross. Pretty typical for this crowd.

I look so tired already.

At 8:30, the kids and I went into the tent and lay quietly to watch the bats hunt, listen to the toads and crickets sing, and get blinded periodically by a firefly's flash. Bobby got to sleep inside because he attempted the "sleep outside with the kids" thing earlier this summer and earned a free pass.

Everyone slept except me (no surprise). I was cold, even with 5 blankets, and there were long stretches of the night that I did not remember passing, but I did not awake feeling rested. Ahhhh, camping.

There's a piece of all four kids in this picture. Robert's elbow is sticking up behind Alice's shoulder.