Backyard Camping with Dad

Norah and Alice have wanted to go camping for quite awhile and we have kept putting it off because Freya is so little we thought it would be a bit more difficult than what we were up for. Lindsey went out of town this weekend for Lauren Merkley’s wedding so I figured it would be the perfect opportunity. I called around to several campgrounds around but because of the solid month of rain we’ve had all of the campgrounds were completely washed out and closed. We decided to camp right in our own backyard. In hindsight, camping in our backyard was plenty of work.

I did a decent amount of internet searching to make sure we have the most successful backyard trip ever. We got little camp chairs for the girls. I printed out songs to sing in the tent. The girls packed up their PJs and favorite books. We even made some entertainment so our digital-age children wouldn’t be bored. We took a trip to Home Depot with some plans for a cornhole game (we modified it to put some bigger holes). The girls were big helpers in finishing it off.

The girls did a lot of sanding and then I finished it off with the power sander.

One of the girls snapped this lovely shot. I’m sure when I’m old I’ll be so grateful to have this to look back on.

Next they painted it with the leftover paint from our siding that was also used to paint our porch swing. The gift that keeps on giving.

It was crazy hot so these girls had to drink up with some water from the hose. They ended up getting completely soaked after this and we went to the FOE Pool to cool off.

Alice fell asleep on the way home from the pool but luckily Norah helped me get the tent all setup.

And the camp chairs

Norah then enjoyed the fruits of her labors

I’m really glad she played this game too because it was a lot of work and only got about 15 minutes of play

We had hot dogs, watermelon and baked beans for dinner

 

S’mores for dessert which were only half-eaten. I guess the process was even more fun than the result.

We relaxed in our nice camp chairs for a little while

And then Norah wanted to go to bed. So we got in PJ’s, read some books, sang some songs and the girls went to bed. I snuck back inside to watch some TV because it was so hot outside that sleeping was out of the question.

The next morning we had pancakes for breakfast

Planned out our hike, strapped on our compasses and set off to finish our camping trip

Here’s our two hikers heading out. After our very short hike we called it a success. I broke camp and the girls zoned out on the couch. They are definitely getting a nap today. All in all, it was a big success. The girls were very well behaved and big helpers too.