What began as a desire to have a backyard campout became a Backyard Campout Weekend!! In the hopes of finding a sleeping bag for Bea’s school camping trip in the early fall, the kids and I ran over to Canadian Tire on Friday morning to do a little back-to-school research. We came home with a sleeping bag, sure,…and, also, a cheap and cheerful tent! Of course, a backyard campout was on our Summer 2013 Bucket List! But I had assumed we’d be “roughing it” under the stars with sleeping bags and blankets. When we saw the aisle of tents, however, we were inspired to go whole hog, well, “small hog” at least. I doubt we’ll ever be anything more than “light” campers. We may want to do a few stargazing and birding trips this fall and next spring. And we’ve been thinking it might be fun, sometime, say, on a road trip to visit family or friends, to pitch a tent instead of springing for a hotel along the way. So, after the kids and I read the reviews of a few of the more economical tents on my phone, we “pitched in” and picked up the Escort Dome Tent for 5 for $49.99. [Ours is orange, as opposed to the green one depicted on the site. And, yes, it fits four and a dog comfortably, not five.]
What followed was a weekend of fun fun fun!! First, we pitched the tent, and the kids danced in front of it!
Then, we set up our mini-mattresses and sleeping bags and read a little before the sun hit the backyard full-on.
On Friday night, we read Poe and told Ghost Stories! Later on, we made s’mores outside of the tent by roasting marshmallows on a few tea lights [if you want to make yours from scratch, check out our spirit bear s’mores and shamrock s’mores recipes]. Afterwards, Papa read a little Percy Jackson. A few raccoons passed by on the fence after the kids had gone to sleep. [Oh, and speaking of S’mores, Tobes wondered what would happen to a marshmallow in the freezer, so we put one in a ziploc and froze it over night. And what of that marshmallow? Well, it froze, but it didn’t expand. So, next day, Tobes got the good idea of making a “game” with it. Using our ping pong paddles, we swatted at the frozen marshmallow in the ziploc and volleyed it back and forth! Super fun!]
Tea-Light S’mores:
Night and Day:
On Saturday, we got even more savvy and, borrowing the machine again from Papa’s work, we projected movies from our computer onto the INSIDE wall of the tent! Saturday night’s selection was Logan’s Run – part of our Summer of Funner Film Festival 2013 [post to follow, but you can see last year’s list here]. Can you say, Fun, Funner “FUNNEST?!” The kids loved the movie…I really think we could have shown just about anything, though, and they would have loved it!!!
From the outside looking in:
From the inside:
On Sunday, there were warm chocolate chip cookies to enjoy before the kids and Papa read Percy Jackson for a good two hours at least…
We’re going to miss the backyard tent….Repeat next weekend? Maybe with a few little sleepover guests instead of parents?
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