backyard camping

As a little girl, (8 maybe), I remember my dad trying to get me and my brother to camp in the backyard.  We were pretty certain that even in Arvada there were mean, big, bad grizzly bears starving for young kids so we stayed up until about 10, tried to sleep and protested until midnight when my dad finally caved and we ran inside to sleep.  Dont ask my why, but I remember this.  I remember how excited I was about camping in the backyard though too!  And, if my dad would have slept in the tent with us, I doubt we would have been scared (haha, oh dad!)

Now, as a mom, I have a very outdoorsy, bug-catching, the-more-dirt-the-better, 4 year old boy who doesn't care if it is the mountains or the backyard..he just wants to CAMP!

I had begged and pleaded with hubby to go camping this weekend and he obliged.  I made a lakeside reservation at Granby and envisioned a day full of fishing, laughing, playing in the water, watching the boats...it was very, Hallmark.

Welp, in good ol' Kendra fashion, I totally forgot we had to have Blake at Coors field for his Tball league parade before the game on Sunday.  Therefore, we had no way of camping and get camp picked up, dropped off, piper to grandmas and downtown by 11.  Boo.  Plans aborted.  

SO - we set up our tent, fire pit, sleeping bags and camped in our backyard.  It.was.awesome and I can NOT wait to do it again!!  The kids LOVED our new tent and especially loved it EMPTY!  The unzipped "walls" made for perfect peek-a-boo and "catch-me-if-you-can" games.  We had s'mores, I had wine, we talked by the fire, we played outside, we heard birds chirping and looked at the moon. 

Because piper is so little and it would be too much to set up the pack and play and put her to bed earlier than Blake, etc. we let her sleep inside and I slept with her inside.  It felt kinda weird having her in the house by herself even if I had the monitor in the tent ha!

Blake was HYPER!  He was obnoxiously hyper, but it all stemmed from his excitement and I loved that!  He loved helping set up the tent, helping "gather" firewood and he was interested in this whole "camping business".  At one point he looked at me and said "mom, could we camp every night?" and I know that he truly meant it and would LOVE if I could say yes!  He loved laying in the tent more than marshmallows at the firepit.  I can't wait to go real camping in a few weeks!

Click here to see our "camping" pics