Camping

So Friday we went camping.

We just didn’t go anywhere.

A couple weeks ago I had the crazy idea that maybe we could camp out in the back yard. We have a small backyard but it’s fenced, and we live in the city but maybe it could feel like we’re at least at a park? My husband has stopped challenging my ideas of things to do with the kids as long as I give him enough headway that he can think of all the details beforehand and as long as I do most of the planning so he doesn't have to worry too much about said zany idea. And while I made this decision two weeks ago, we still didn’t drag the camping supplies down from the attic until Wednesday (and tested out the tent) and blew up the air mattress on Thursday to make sure there weren’t any holes since we hadn’t used it in eight years. Everything was good and it was a go! I did all the other planning. Food, fun, and setting up the bedding.

I told the kids and they were SUPER excited. “will it be as fun as the dip thing last Friday?” Spencer asked (so I guess fondue was a bigger hit than I expected). Yes, child, yes.

After we got home from work/school, we just went outside. There was nothing to do, we just went outside. C was technically scheduled to work until 8pm, so he had to keep an eye on his computer but generally the kids played, I got everything ready and sprayed us down with bug spray. I decided that as cooking outside went I would also do something different, and made us a shrimp boil (I used this recipe but halved it. I didn’t have the “shrimp and crab boil bag” but used everything else and it was amazing. I think next time I’ll leave out the potatoes, but that’s because my children are strange and don’t like them. I only put a couple in for the adults anyway). Next time I will make the whole recipe … still just for the four of us. We are a shrimp-lovin’ family.

The kids played some more, and I didn’t allow any devices outside so they started playing some form of catch with an old tennis ball that including bouncing and making it under a chair … it was strange, but they had a blast. I had turned up the baseball game from the tv inside so we could listen along, but finally I moved our chairs so we could see the tv from the porch and we enjoyed a cold beverage and watched the game while the kids played. It was probably cheating, but so nice and relaxing.

Every five minutes after dinner was done, Spencer was asking for me to make s’mores, so once the sun set I started those up. MESSY. Apparently the act of roasting the marshmallow keeps the shape better, and I put way too much chocolate on them and it was a delicious disaster. We each had two. Thankfully the bathrooms were close and I could send the kids in to clean up!

We climbed into the tent late and played card games by tent light – Go Fish, Old Maid, Uno. Bedtime was around 10:30pm and the kids slept great (restless, but they always are). C and I did not sleep well, but that’s also because we are old and even with air mattress and orthopedic pillow it was not our bed. Around 2:30 when C woke me up and I couldn’t get back to sleep, I was thinking about camping in the city and it made me realize: I won’t even leave the windows open at night yet I took my entire family outside overnight with no locks. The minor anxiety passed though, and we survived the night.

It was wonderful. Absolutely wonderful.