Backyard Campout!

Saturday we invited friends of our over for a backyard campout as a trial run, to see how our kids would do sleeping outdoors, with the option to retreat to the house near by. The Daytime high was in the 90's and the overnight temp only went into the mid 60's. We borrowed my sister's tent for Matt and Tina to use for their family, so they didn't need to make a big investment, and we had enough extra inflatable beds to get everyone off the hard ground. The evening started at about 5pm, with the setting up of the tents, and then the campfire was started. The men decided diner must be cooked over the wood fire! So there the cooked on the campfire grill Stephan purchased for the men's last camping trip, and to be used by us when we went. Diner was chicken, corn on the cob, and carrots, turned out great! Then because we had the freezer ice cream cones for desert yum! And I've been informed that dry ice will keep things frozen for at least 2 days to ice cream while camping not so far fetched! with all the hustle and bustle I failed to get the camera out sorry! The sun went down, and the kids went to bed, Matt and Tina's kiddies settled in with little fuss, and ours, Chloe settled in ok, Molly did her standard bedtime aske 20questions about tomorrow and messed around in the tent for a few. Tristen had some teething issues, but nothing a little motrin and oragel couldn't aid in fixing. We learned a crank radio is no good for any length of time to get 3 girls off to sleep. All kids where asleep by 11pm, then us parents chatted around the campfire until midnight, had some smores somewhere in that hour, and called it a night! Into the tents we climbed, not a peep from Matt and Tina's tent! Stephan had worked the night before so was wide awake! NOT GOOD!! Each time I went to doze off, Stephan would either roll around, sit up, or get up and out of the tent. This went on until 230am, then I decided I needed to get out of the tent to run in for a bathroom break. So 3am rolls around, after what sounded like a woman yelling help, Stephan rolled over and went of to sleep! No fair, I was so tired, and my sleep had been so disturbed that I was having issues falling asleep. I'd say I nodded off between 330a, and 4a. Problem here we where waking up at 6am to have breakfast and so everyone could get ready for church. The alarms went off the kids woke up. Matt and Tina opted to skip cooking a big breakfast on the campfire and headed home for showers, we rolled into the house, bathed, ate, and Tristen and I napped for about 1 1/2 hours before we had to leave for church. A large coffee got me through the am, and we all took a long afternoon nap, after a little trip to Grandma and Grandpa Rouze's house for Stephan to play a game w/His dad, Joe(his dad's friend), and his brother. Lesson's learned from out back yard camp out.

1. Lay down the rules for kids before the tents are up, and fire is going
2. Have batteries for fan!
3. Have charged MP3 player w/speakers with the kids fav sleepy time music
4. Never camp out on Stephan's 1st night off
5. Do not camp in the back yard.. to much traffic on the road.
6. Pack n Plays just don't work in a tent when you are sleeping on the ground and need to get to baby in the middle of the night or 1st thing in the am! (We are buying a peapod)
7. Have batteries for lanters.
8. Glow sticks are awesome nightlights!
9. I need to get a wardrobe of comfy athletic style clothes for camping purposes!
10. Camping is going to be fun, and we need to go somewhere to do it for more than one night so we can hike, swim, and have a good time!
11. Everyone will be dingy to a certain extent. Showers right at bed time could help.
12. Our Dog did awesome sleeping outside in the tent w/us and only barked when a car pulled into the neighbor's driveway.

SO those are a few. and here is a pic of our backyard campsite the next day! We had fun despite the fact that Steph and I barely slept and that is an easy fix for next time.