Backyard campout---oh, what a night

Backyard campout---oh, what a night
Originally uploaded by CyberJazzDaddy.

This summer, and all last summer, the kids have been asking when we are going camping for real. And when my wifes mom bought us a huge family sized tent, I knew there could be no denying now. I'd have to follow through sooner or later.

So we engaged a little experiment this last weekend: the Backyard camp-out.

We put up the big thing in the back yard to try it and see. A dry run to point out the weak spots before we actually haul this thing out into the wild. The number one rule---daddy gets the air mattress.

There were mixed results. I did discover that putting up a tent in your backyard increases the hyperactivity quotient in you children by a factor of 10 (roughly). When the time came to lay down and get ready for actual sleeping, I began to feel restraints may be in order.

We finally got everyone settled down to read a book, and shut off the flashlight. The first one to abandon the effort was the oldest boy, the only camping veteran. It was a cool evening, around 70 degrees, and he turns over and asks, "Do we have a fan we can bring out here?"

A fan.

In a tent.

My "Of course not!" sent him back into the house. The call of a cool bedroom and comfortable bed was just too strong.

Next to leave was my daughter. She said she was getting a headache.

So the two youngest and I were all that was left. Mommy was the smart one. She took some photos, kissed us good-night and went inside from the start.

My big discovery: There's a reason people don't camp out in the city. They are as follows:

*Traffic
*City lights
*The Fire Department (did you know they work at night--with sirens! How rude!)
*Trains
*Wedding parties driving around honking horns after the reception is over late at night.
*Cats fighting. Which I had to break up. Which the boys clamored out of the tent to watch. Which then meant I had to herd them back into the tent. The boys, that is, not the cats.
*Cat's wanting to come in and meowing at you through the tent wall
*People getting up and going to work before the sun comes up with much slamming of car doors

All this and my deflating air mattress meant that I didn't get much sleep. But the boys thought it was great!

Onward.