Backyard Camping

Every year our neighborhood hosts a family campout. Every year we've had something else going on, but this year John and Eve (I think prompted by a TV show) asked recently when we could go camping. That day we got the neighborhood news letter and saw that the campound was in just a few weeks. They were so excited! Friday came, the big day, and John and Ellie woke up with a short-lived stomach bug. Bummer. To make up for it, Saturday afternoon we setup camp, and after church had our own little campout in the back yard. As far as they were concerned, it was just as good.

Playing in the tents after we put them up probably would've been good enough for John and Eve. TONS of fun!

We started with a fire, hotdogs, beans, and potato chips (made from the potatoes we harvested from our garden). Buck is quite the campfire chef! While he was cooking we gave Ellie appetizers in her high chair (to keep her out of the fire), and John, Eve, and I caught a firefly. They quickly lost interest, which is why we only caught one, but this evening when I asked John what his favorite part was, he said catching the firefly.

No campfire or campout is complete without smores. No, Ellie has not shrunk. That marshmallow is freakishly HUGE! They don't call them sMOREs for nothing.

Fortunately Eve was happy with a "raw" marshmallow (this is as close as she got)

John didn't much like getting close to the fire...

...at all...

...really.

Ahhh, but the reward is so sweet!

With John, Eve, and Ellie sharing a tent, no confinement for Ellie, random fireworks, and the fun effects of sugar, after many empty threats the kids finally fell asleep around 10:30 or so. I'm not sure Buck or I slept at all hearing all the neighbors sprinklers start up at random times, trying to get the dogs to go inside to stop barking at shadows, and thinking about what critters might be getting into our tent since the kids got the big one and our feet were hanging out the door. We managed to stay outside until 5:30 when the birds decided to give us a super loud wake-up call. By 10 all kids were down for a nap. It was a great time, but it may be a while before we give it another go.