"Camping"

When we got married Jon's company gave us this fantastic tent that we set up once while living in the Dawson house and had high hopes of taking with us on many an adventure.  Adventures that never came to pass.  Never, that is, until last Friday.  Last Friday seemed to be a great day to camp!  A great day to test out how the girls would handle sleeping in the outdoors.  And a great day to use our portable fire pit which has been beckoning to us since May.  Which was about the same time that I purchased all the goods required for s'mores, and they too were calling to us from the pantry.  A great day for memories!

 

 And those memories started rolling as soon as Jon came home from work.  He mowed the lawn immediately and then went right to work on setting up the tent.  The girls were fascinated.  Lydia discovered that it was too hot inside.  We assured her that it would be quite comfortable by the time we went to sleep, but the heat wasn't a real cause for concern.  It didn't keep the girls from playing inside.  Sophie loved running around and getting on the sleeping bags and air mattress.  Neither girl appreciated the sound of the mattress filling with air.  In fact, the very sight of the pump terrified them.  Once everything was set up we picnicked on our picnic table and then settled in to our camping chairs around our cozy fire.

The s'mores were a hit.  Mostly.  The chocolate was definitely the preferred ingredient, but who doesn't love chocolate, marshmallows, and graham crackers?  Jon captured some awesome shots of marshmallow goo stretching great distances between face and fingers.  Did the girls enjoy themselves?  I daresay that they did!  Once the sticky mess was removed from their happy faces it was jammy time and the four of us settled in and snuggled up to watch Toy Story 3 on the iPad.  In the tent.

We were having such a great time until Sophie made it painfully apparent that she wanted nothing more than to sleep, but refused to do so.  I rocked her in the tent and finally realized that I was not going to be successful unless I walked with her and since the tent was only so big she and I went outside and enjoyed the stars and the breeze and dealt with the mosquitoes until she was almost asleep.  I was sure she was out!  But it took just a little bit more than that.  And Toy Story was over and Jon was telling Lyds that it was time to sleep and that we were all going to be together sleeping in the tent and she was not cool with that.  In fact, she wasn't willing to listen to any reassurances.  Period.  She beelined it to the door and got the tent unzipped faster than I would have thought possible.  Point taken.  Jon took her in and got her to sleep after only a few books and sleeping Sophie and I enjoyed the tent until Jon returned.  It would have been nice to sleep in the tent after all the preparation, but the whole evening made it all worth it.