In years past we have always gone camping, now matter that we have to take babies and toddlers along with us. Sometimes we have a really fun experience and sometimes we just have a memorable experience.
This year My Dear Husband had a great idea. He thought we should try camping out in his parents’ backyard. Now, this isn’t just any old backyard. They have a fabulous backyard. Their backyard turned out to be way, way better than an ordinary campground.
First of all, he went over right after work and set up the tent. So when we came over with the kids later, everything was ready to go. That eliminated a ton of camping stress right away.
Secondly, we were in town, instead of the middle of nowhere on top of a mountain, so we had Little Caesar’s Five Bucks Pizza for dinner. On a picnic table. Because the fabulous backyard has a picnic table, of course.
Thirdly, after dinner we had a rousing game of kickball, followed by jumping on the trampoline, swinging on the swing set, and riding bikes around the tennis court. No kids got bored. No kids were covered in dirt because all the grass is worn away on the campground.
And lastly, all the kids were so tired, they went straight to their sleeping bags and actually fell asleep, right after using the actual, real flushing bathroom inside of my in-law’s house. I’m telling you camping with kiddos couldn’t be better than this.
I almost forgot to mention, in case you don’t think this excursion sounds, “campy” enough. The fabulous backyard has a fire pit (of course!) so we also sat around the campfire, roasted marshmallows, and made s’mores.
My personal favorite thing was after all the kiddos were sleeping (ACTUAL SLEEPING, NOT JUST PLAYING) in the tent, My Dear Husband and I broke out the telescopes and I got to stare at Saturn and it’s beautiful and amazing rings. It is fun to look at all the star clusters, planets, and distance smudges that are nebulae, but there is just something really inspiring about Saturn sitting up there in the night sky with it’s dainty little rings surrounding it.
So, to sum it up. I love going backpacking. I love being out in the mountains. But with all these little girls, I think this backyard camp out was the best (and the easiest) camp out we’ve been on. We actually had a fun and memorable experience at the same time. 🙂
I love to camp too, but not with all my grandkids at once. But I want them to experience sleeping in a tent with grandma. Why? I don’t know. Last year we set up our big huge tent we bought second-hand somewhere in the backyard. Guess what? That has now turned in a tradition. They can’t wait until August when we set up the large huge tent and everyone brings their sleeping bags and we sleep outside. And the flushing toilets are always a plus.