It's raining cats and dogs right now and you will never guess from where I am writing. Oh wait - if you read the previous post you probably *can* guess. The tent. That's right, the tent.
Are we crazy? Only time will tell for sure but so far it's mostly OK. This is the maiden voyage for the tent in a rain storm and we have noticed a few drops here and there on the rain fly at the seams (the roof of the tent itself it net and then the rain fly goes over). It isn't bad...yet. I figure the rain can't keep up all night, right? I mean - it IS August and all.
The kids went to bed so easily tonight - the sounds of the rain and stories from both moms about times when, as children, we were on vacation and it rained. My stories were all tent camping or backpacking based since that is how my family vacationed and Dakota's were from her family's boat as that is how she vacationed. I love how we have given our kids both sides of vacationing: camping (sure sure - it's in the backyard at this point (Kelton doesn't remember the times when he was under 3 years of age that he went camping) but it's camping to us) and water vacations. Not so much on a boat but at least at the seaside.
Dakota mentioned how much she is enjoying listening to the sounds of the rain from the inside of the tent though she was quick to point out that if we were *really* camping in the woods she would be far from amused. There is comfort to be taken in the fact that if we get wet the warm, dry house is mere feet away. Dry pajamas and dry beds await us if necessary. It does make the adventure of rain camping much more enjoyable. I highly recommend it. :)
And speaking of recommending...I have been noticing that in the magazines I have been reading lately there have been an articles on backyard camping. I find it funny that it is the hip new thing to do when we have been doing it for years now and well....I even did it as a kid.
As children we would pitch our 2-man tents in the backyard and sleep outside many times during a summer. My parents would simply leave the backdoor unlocked and off we'd go. They never slept out there with us but then - times were different. The world a more trusting place perhaps.
The sounds of the rain make me so happy (as you might be able to tell from my ramblings) and stirs up memories of camping in the woods with my family. On rainy days we would hunker down in our tents (I shared a tent with my sister) and work in word search books, read or play cards. I'm sure I am totally romanticizing it now because something tells me it wasn't really all that fun to stay locked in a tent for most of a day with the occasional mad dashes for the outhouse. But still - looking back, it sure makes good memories and fun stories to tell my children. :)
Right now both kids are sleeping, Dakota is reading and I am....well...as if you can't tell...blogging. We made chocolate chip cookies tonight and the kids had their two before bed. We opted to save ours for after they were asleep and we were settled in watching a show on the laptop. It doesn't seem to have worked out that way since there is no way we would be able to hear over the loudness of the rain so here I am - sans chocolate chip cookies because neither one of us wants to brave the rain to make a mad dash into the kitchen to get cookies and milk only to have to make the dash again to take the dishes back in. Hmmm....so being in a tent during the rain keeps us from our usual (and so not good habit) of bedtime snacking. Too bad we can't bottle this because it just might make the best diet pills ever! :)
I wish I could share the sounds of tonight with you. I just love, love, love the sound of rain. I've been known to throw open the door on a rainy night just to listen to thepitter patter. I love the sounds of the rain as it hits the chimney top or one of the vents on the roof. I don't like *having* to be in the rain but I love listening to it and watching it and, on the occasions that the kids talk me into it, I even love rain walks.
And bonus for the rain tonight - Kaylen looked at me and said "Hey Mom! My nose isn't clogged one bit tonight!" Let's hear it for that! No bedtime meltdown!!
Bring on the rain.....just keep it on the outside of the tent, please. :)
Showing posts with label camping. Show all posts
Showing posts with label camping. Show all posts
Tuesday, August 11, 2009
Oh the Joy of Camping!
We're still camping in the yard. I had planned to put everything away today but the children had another thought: one more night.
What the heck - I wasn't all that thrilled with the daunting task of lugging everything out of the tent and putting it all away. The kids have managed to pull out many, many things to have in there with them - I'm sure if I look hard enough I will probably find a motorcycle jack or two. And besides that I'm sure the grass under the tent is already done. No biggie really because soon enough the fall rains will be here and it will green up again. It's been big fun sleeping outside.
Well......mostly.
Last night, minus the gigantic meltdown that a certain 4 year old had because her "nose was clogged and the medicine is NOT working!", was great. Both kids (and both moms) slept well. After the kids nodded off Dakota and I set up the laptop and watched a movie we had picked up from a Red Box (love those things!) on Saturday. It was "Then She Found Me" which has a star-studded cast. We should have clued in when neither of us could recall hearing anything about it. It was ok - but sooooo slow. After it ended we looked at each other and said "Ok. Ummm....really?" Sure - it was 2 hours we'll never get back but just sitting in the tent watching a movie and listening to the crickets or frogs or whatever they were was really peaceful and nice.
The one big downer to last nights adventure was that Dakota was up before the sun getting ready for work - it definitely wasn't as much fun without her there. Today the weather isn't nealy as nice as yesterday but something tells me we will have just as much fun anyway.
It's just so darn nice to be able to enjoy some summer time family time.
What the heck - I wasn't all that thrilled with the daunting task of lugging everything out of the tent and putting it all away. The kids have managed to pull out many, many things to have in there with them - I'm sure if I look hard enough I will probably find a motorcycle jack or two. And besides that I'm sure the grass under the tent is already done. No biggie really because soon enough the fall rains will be here and it will green up again. It's been big fun sleeping outside.
Well......mostly.
Last night, minus the gigantic meltdown that a certain 4 year old had because her "nose was clogged and the medicine is NOT working!", was great. Both kids (and both moms) slept well. After the kids nodded off Dakota and I set up the laptop and watched a movie we had picked up from a Red Box (love those things!) on Saturday. It was "Then She Found Me" which has a star-studded cast. We should have clued in when neither of us could recall hearing anything about it. It was ok - but sooooo slow. After it ended we looked at each other and said "Ok. Ummm....really?" Sure - it was 2 hours we'll never get back but just sitting in the tent watching a movie and listening to the crickets or frogs or whatever they were was really peaceful and nice.
The one big downer to last nights adventure was that Dakota was up before the sun getting ready for work - it definitely wasn't as much fun without her there. Today the weather isn't nealy as nice as yesterday but something tells me we will have just as much fun anyway.
It's just so darn nice to be able to enjoy some summer time family time.
Tuesday, August 26, 2008
Time on My Hands
I bet you can tell that Dakota is back in school, can't you? How many posts can I make in one day? A lot, as it turns out. :)
This past weekend we did what was probably our very last camping in the backyard weekend for the summer. It was so sad to put things away knowing it will probably be an entire year before we have camping fun again. We went out in style though - we had a camp fire and made s'mores. Kaylen had been wanting to make s'mores every time we camped (which we counted out to be five weekends. Felt like more than that though.) but we held her at bay most times. By the time we had dinner, built a fire, waited for it to get ready, made s'mores, ate them, cleaned up, had baths and then hit the sleeping bags, it was always later than we planned and a certain little girl would be a mess of toddler meltdown. Knowing this was probably the last time though we made sure she had her one last camp fire.
I'm glad we were able to camp out so many times. It was really great family time and I can't wait until next summer when we can do it again!
(PS..keep reading if you haven't already. I have done 4 posts so far today. :) )
This past weekend we did what was probably our very last camping in the backyard weekend for the summer. It was so sad to put things away knowing it will probably be an entire year before we have camping fun again. We went out in style though - we had a camp fire and made s'mores. Kaylen had been wanting to make s'mores every time we camped (which we counted out to be five weekends. Felt like more than that though.) but we held her at bay most times. By the time we had dinner, built a fire, waited for it to get ready, made s'mores, ate them, cleaned up, had baths and then hit the sleeping bags, it was always later than we planned and a certain little girl would be a mess of toddler meltdown. Knowing this was probably the last time though we made sure she had her one last camp fire.
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I'm glad we were able to camp out so many times. It was really great family time and I can't wait until next summer when we can do it again!
(PS..keep reading if you haven't already. I have done 4 posts so far today. :) )
Friday, July 18, 2008
Camp Out - Friday Night
(If you haven't yet read about last weekends camping adventure, scroll down a couple posts and read it. I wrote it earlier today.)
So - we're camping out again. Right now it's the end of making s'mores. The kids have been appropriately sugared up and now they have about 40 minutes to burn it off before we toss them in the bath and then into bed. Hopefully, we'll all be sleeping in the tent.
Here are the s'more photos for your enjoyment. :)
So - we're camping out again. Right now it's the end of making s'mores. The kids have been appropriately sugared up and now they have about 40 minutes to burn it off before we toss them in the bath and then into bed. Hopefully, we'll all be sleeping in the tent.
Here are the s'more photos for your enjoyment. :)
Our "small" tent. Two full rooms. We can fit two queen sized air mattresses in there as well as camping chairs for all of us. Pretty fun! So yes, Heidi, there is indeed room for your brood and ours. It sleeps 10. :)
Now go on...keep reading. There are more posts to share. :)
Camp Out, Part 2
Oh yeah. I rocked it. The tent is once again set up and being enjoyed by the youngest family member as I type this. And the dogs; who also love camping. Well....I'm not sure if they love *camping* per se but they definitely love sleeping on the air mattresses. :)
Now if Wonder Boy would just stop sulking and pouting then we will be all set for a fun weekend. Wish me luck!
(And keep reading. I posted about last weekends camping adventure earlier today.)
Now if Wonder Boy would just stop sulking and pouting then we will be all set for a fun weekend. Wish me luck!
(And keep reading. I posted about last weekends camping adventure earlier today.)
Monday, August 06, 2007
Don't Give Up On Me
I swear to you that I have been trying to get here all day to post something new and exciting - well, at least new - but the day has been crazy nuts which is completely *not*( what today was supposed to be like. We were very busy all weekend so the plan was for the kids and I to have a "down day". Umm...yeah. Sure, we did stay home but it was anything but low key.
I spent an hour this afternoon de-campifying the backyard but mostly I spent the day breaking up fights and redirecting. I'm exhausted!
Friday afternoon I set up the tent and put all the camping stuff inside. I love our tent - it's huge, yes but I can set up it, alone, in 25 minutes. The four of us even slept out there Friday night...well, sleep is not exactly accurate. The kids slept but Dakota and I were awake more than not. Both kids are sleep talkers in a big way and between the two of them it was chatter central out there. Saturday we opted to sleep inside but we did play for hours upon hours in the tent all weekend.
Saturday we ran some errands and then got the house and yard ready for company. Dakota's nephew, wife and two kids moved back to the area from California last week so we decided late on Friday to see about having people over to celebrate their return. It was a huge success and we all had a great time.
Sunday we started moving slowly but then because we knew we had to do *something* we the kids I came up with the idea of going to the brand new Ikea store that opened up across the river. OY! What a mistake that was! By the time we found our way into the parking area we were directed into the overflow parking which was quite a walk to the store. Since we were just wanting to check it out we decided to skip it because there was no way either one of us felt like battling that kind of crowd. And just for the record, I'm thinking they could certainly invest in some signage on how to get to their store since we had to go way past it, turn around and then figure out how to get into the area (which was not accessible from the side we originally were traveling). I'm just saying.....from the looks of the parking lot, they could certainly afford to put up some signs!
So after that didn't pan out we decided to head to a nearby mall that we rarely frequent. It was so much fun!! Kelton was jazzed and bouncy and so much fun to be with. We ended up picking up a couple pair of school pants for him and also a pair of Crocs. He decided he didn't want to have to wait to find the Mickey Crocs and instead opted for metallic dark green. I bought him two jibbitz to go in them too which was a huge hit for him. He picked out a space alien and a turtle. He decided that the next time we go to that mall he will first earn $5.00 so he can pick out two more. Sadly, we don't have a Croc kiosk in our mall but at least we can look forward to it the next time we go mall-exploring. :)
Dakota and I were both dealing with some sort of bug-but-not all weekend. Saturday night and Sunday until mid afternoon were the worst for me but the good news is I am feeling so much better today.
Well - what do you know. I just did an update. Maybe I should change the title of the post. :) I do have some great photos from last week to show off. Take a peek!
I spent an hour this afternoon de-campifying the backyard but mostly I spent the day breaking up fights and redirecting. I'm exhausted!
Friday afternoon I set up the tent and put all the camping stuff inside. I love our tent - it's huge, yes but I can set up it, alone, in 25 minutes. The four of us even slept out there Friday night...well, sleep is not exactly accurate. The kids slept but Dakota and I were awake more than not. Both kids are sleep talkers in a big way and between the two of them it was chatter central out there. Saturday we opted to sleep inside but we did play for hours upon hours in the tent all weekend.
Saturday we ran some errands and then got the house and yard ready for company. Dakota's nephew, wife and two kids moved back to the area from California last week so we decided late on Friday to see about having people over to celebrate their return. It was a huge success and we all had a great time.
Sunday we started moving slowly but then because we knew we had to do *something* we the kids I came up with the idea of going to the brand new Ikea store that opened up across the river. OY! What a mistake that was! By the time we found our way into the parking area we were directed into the overflow parking which was quite a walk to the store. Since we were just wanting to check it out we decided to skip it because there was no way either one of us felt like battling that kind of crowd. And just for the record, I'm thinking they could certainly invest in some signage on how to get to their store since we had to go way past it, turn around and then figure out how to get into the area (which was not accessible from the side we originally were traveling). I'm just saying.....from the looks of the parking lot, they could certainly afford to put up some signs!
So after that didn't pan out we decided to head to a nearby mall that we rarely frequent. It was so much fun!! Kelton was jazzed and bouncy and so much fun to be with. We ended up picking up a couple pair of school pants for him and also a pair of Crocs. He decided he didn't want to have to wait to find the Mickey Crocs and instead opted for metallic dark green. I bought him two jibbitz to go in them too which was a huge hit for him. He picked out a space alien and a turtle. He decided that the next time we go to that mall he will first earn $5.00 so he can pick out two more. Sadly, we don't have a Croc kiosk in our mall but at least we can look forward to it the next time we go mall-exploring. :)
Dakota and I were both dealing with some sort of bug-but-not all weekend. Saturday night and Sunday until mid afternoon were the worst for me but the good news is I am feeling so much better today.
Well - what do you know. I just did an update. Maybe I should change the title of the post. :) I do have some great photos from last week to show off. Take a peek!
Monday, July 30, 2007
Gone Camping!
On Friday afternoon, Dakota came home with the idea of setting up the tent and camping in the backyard. If you are a regular reader of my blog, then you probably remember that we do this every year and it is always a lot of fun!
We had the tent up in 18 minutes which we were pretty happy with considering this is only the second time we've ever raised this particular tent. I love this tent! It's 14x14 and it's perfect for us.
As you can see, the tent was a big hit with Jordan the dalmatian, too! He is a camper at heart, that's for sure.
We bbq'd for dinner and then the real fun began! We made a fire in the fire bowl so that the kids could roast marshmallows and make s'more. Big, big fun - and a big, big mess! This was the first time Kaylen ever had a s'more and she loved it. Check these out:
And here are a couple of my favorites:
Both kids really wanted to sleep in the tent so after bath (wow - did they ever need a bath!) we settled into sleeping bags for stories and sleep but alas, sleep was not to be had. After more than an hour of trying, Kaylen finally fell asleep. Thirty minutes after that, Kelton decided that he couldn't sleep outside and wanted to go to his own bed. I carefully carried Kaylen inside and Dakota went with Kelton. He was out cold in about 30 seconds flat.
First thing in the morning, we all headed back out to have fun. The tent was up until last night and, as promised, it will be back up this Friday for another weekend of camping fun. Maybe this time we'll actually manage to sleep out there. :)
(PS..Keep reading; I posted something a little bit earlier today)
On Friday afternoon, Dakota came home with the idea of setting up the tent and camping in the backyard. If you are a regular reader of my blog, then you probably remember that we do this every year and it is always a lot of fun!
We had the tent up in 18 minutes which we were pretty happy with considering this is only the second time we've ever raised this particular tent. I love this tent! It's 14x14 and it's perfect for us.
As you can see, the tent was a big hit with Jordan the dalmatian, too! He is a camper at heart, that's for sure.
We bbq'd for dinner and then the real fun began! We made a fire in the fire bowl so that the kids could roast marshmallows and make s'more. Big, big fun - and a big, big mess! This was the first time Kaylen ever had a s'more and she loved it. Check these out:
And here are a couple of my favorites:
Both kids really wanted to sleep in the tent so after bath (wow - did they ever need a bath!) we settled into sleeping bags for stories and sleep but alas, sleep was not to be had. After more than an hour of trying, Kaylen finally fell asleep. Thirty minutes after that, Kelton decided that he couldn't sleep outside and wanted to go to his own bed. I carefully carried Kaylen inside and Dakota went with Kelton. He was out cold in about 30 seconds flat.
First thing in the morning, we all headed back out to have fun. The tent was up until last night and, as promised, it will be back up this Friday for another weekend of camping fun. Maybe this time we'll actually manage to sleep out there. :)
(PS..Keep reading; I posted something a little bit earlier today)
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