conference camping

Since we moved to Ohio, there had been very few Saturday mornings that Chad didn't have to be away.  Even if he didn't have to put in a full day, he usually had to at least round in the morning at the hospital.  It just so happened that the week before general conference (this is something we do in our church every six months) Chads attending went on vacation.  This meant a pretty light week for Chad as well, and the entire weekend off!  With the weather warming up, Chad, as usual, made the most of it.  He started preparing the beds for all of the seedlings he had been growing in the baby's room window, and working on the yard.  The kiddos had fun playing with (torturing) all of the worms and bugs that they found during this process. 

As the day started to wind down Chad thought it would be fun to break out the tent and enjoy the fact that he didn't have to be up before the sun to go to work. The kids were beyond excited! So excited that it took quite a while to get the tent up because the the babies, but mostly Pratt, kept running off with the pieces.

We also broke out Chad's anniversary present for the first time.  We very much live in suburbia, but a portable fire pit works perfectly in our back yard!  With our coat hangers converted into roasting sticks, we had hot dogs and marshmallows (I will be keeping chocolate bars and Graham crackers on hand for the rest of the summer so that we can do it right when the opportunity presents its self).

In an effort to reduce the amount of laundry I would be folding during the Saturday sessions, we bathed the kiddos.  No smoky pillows or blankets for me!  While I handled this task, Chad got the beds ready.  We don't own sleeping bags, so we hauled every blanket outside that we have.  This first weekend in April was still very cold at night.  Chad was convinced that if he wrapped everyone up, and ran an extension cord from the house to run a space heater, everyone would be cozy enough.

Here is my little camping crew.  Getting a good nights sleep is not one of my greater talents (especially when I am pregnant), so stayed indoors and let Chad enjoy giggling excited babies.  I was a little lonely walking back into the house on a Friday night at 8:30.  But, I did love looking out the windows and seeing that tent, and knowing that my babies are the luckiest kids alive to have such an amazing man as their dad! 

The end of the story is that just a few hours later, the backdoor opened and in walked a very sleepy camping crew!  I had fallen asleep on the couch and was a little startled, but when I felt the air from the open door, I knew what had happened.  After all of our little people were sleeping in their beds Chad told me of the sad little voices telling him how cold they were.  That is the beauty of backyard camping!  They kids had all the excitement of sleeping out, but still had clean beds, flushing toilets, and a warm breakfast that I popped in the oven that I made the night before while I wasn't camping!