camping

Last weekend our ward had a cookout/camp out. We decided to go ahead and participate in the entire activity. When some of our great neighbors moved out in May they gave us their tent. Having a good sized family it is a good sized tent. This is the single piece of camping equipment that we own. However, with Aimee's recent fascination with the woods we thought this would be, if nothing else, a trip to be remembered for years to come. We definitely succeeded! The weather was forecast to be great with a chance of rain late Saturday morning. So, with a few borrowed items from our friends, a stack of blankets, a pack'n play, and some bug spray we embarked on our family's maiden camp out voyage. When we arrived we picked a great spot for our excessively large tent and went to work reading the instructions to get it set up. It was only missing one piece! Aimee and Porter thought it was nothing short of magical! Getting ready for bed that night and watching those two babies rolling around in the blankets and bouncing off the air mattress I understood why my own parents went to all the work of camping! I am a terrible sleeper by nature, but at about 11:00 that night when the rain started pelting our tent, I knew it would be an even longer night than I had anticipated. My sweet husband got up in the middle of the night in his garmies to move the kiddos out from under the dripping spots and adjust blankets that were now wet. A couple of times I too had to get up to push up the roof of the tent where water was pooling and dripping. It was a long night, and an even longer day cleaning up after our adventure, but we actually had a blast! We loved it so much that we decided we needed to do it again. Last night we set up our tent in a far corner of Village Green just behind a dumpster. This was the flattest location we could find that wasn't right on our lawn. I think it would have been awesome except that it was so cold last night, and there is a lamp post located next to the dumpster that runs all night. By morning Chad and I both had a baby sharing our blanket beds and we couldn't wait to get inside. I think we will have to wait until next year to make our charming third attempt, but we are all looking forward to it! I'll post pictures as soon as I find my camara transfer cord!