Camping Fun!

We had a few opportunities for tent camping come up this fall. It all started with plans for the boys to attend a Y Guide event for Trailblazers (kids in 5th grade and up). Daniel was very keen to participate in this, so Ben did all his research and got them signed up and geared up for tent camping. And then since we were getting us a new tent anyway, we also found a park district family camping event for Ben and the kids to go to. (I don't tent camp; nope, no way. I barely cabin camp. I just don't camp, period, let's just say.) Anyway, the kids were very excited about all this camping and of course wanted to try everything out! It's been a fun couple months around here with all these new experiences. Ben is keen to do some more tent camping with the kids. Go for it, hon! Making memories all the way! Love it!

Daniel and Ben went tent shopping, while Annabel and I were off doing something else.

Once our tent arrived, Annabel wanted to help Ben try it out in advance of the various camping events they were signed up for. He needed to practice setting it up and just see how it went overall. So they set it up in our backyard and then Annabel and Daddy had a night out camping! So cute. Annabel made sure to take her lovies, her headlamp, a book for Daddy to read, and I believe they had a game to play, too. It rained that night, but they were super brave and stayed out all night, all cozy in their tent. (Actually, I think it's rained every single time they've gone camping. Jinxed, maybe?) Ben had the foresight to take an umbrella with them when they went out, so they had that handy for the morning rain. Clever Daddy! He also figured out how to set things up a little better for the next time, which was the whole point of doing this backyard camping. Fun night for them!

Goodnight!

Still sleeping away in the morning...

Here they come, my troopers!

After this trial night, they went camping through a park district family event at a local park the weekend of September 14th. A fun (rainy) night for them again! Annabel blogged about that night.

Then the following weekend, the weekend of September 21st, was the Y Guide Trailblazers event (September was a very busy month as you can tell!). They were supposed to have this big day, a canoeing trip and then a hike and camping and all. The rain we had all that week had other ideas though. The canoeing place ended up calling and saying the river was too high, so that was out. They ended up just doing a small hike as a group after lunch, then coming home (to Annabel's chagrin- this was supposed to be our girls' day after all!), and then going to their campsite late that afternoon. As the week and the day progressed, their camping group got smaller and smaller. But Ben and Daniel did not let a little (or a lot of, as it turned out) rain stop them- they were troopers and they still camped that night. Ben and Daniel left late afternoon to get their site set up while it was not raining. Ben was proud to get a camp fire going, and they cooked hot dogs over the fire for dinner. Once it got dark, it started raining and they ended up just playing games in the tent and then heading to bed. They were up at a decent hour, packed up, and headed home to see us girls. They had a good time and earned kudos from their little group for getting the fire going and braving the rain! 

Now Ben and the kids are talking about doing more camping...and of course they want me to come, too. We shall see, we shall see...