It’s announced a few Sunday’s ago that the annual Father/Son Campout at church is the coming weekend. Bart turns to the boys and utters words I’ve never heard escape his lips before.
“Do you boys want to go camping?”
“YAY! Best dad ever! I can’t wait! It will be the best day ever!”
Wait, what?
Bart just initiated camping? But it is the weekend of Mother’s Day…isn’t it Mother’s Week?
But…we have NOTHING for camping. No tent, sleeping bags, hot dog sticks. Nothing.
After some luck, we wound up with an amazingly large tent for $20 and in just about brand new condition! YAY! The boys can go (and use blankets instead of sleeping bags and eat at McDonald’s on the way to the campout) and have a great night.
Well, except that part where Bart has never set up a tent or gone camping a day in his life. I am the expert (HA! very loosely used) here. I camped for a week in the “wilderness” (seriously, no a/c, nasty hole in ground bathrooms) every summer as a teenager. I’ve got the tent building down pat because if I hadn’t build my tent, I would have had to sleep in the wild and be eaten alive by Louisiana wildlife and bugs.
Test run
So, we practice once in the backyard. Easy enough, but if it is windy, setting up this tent (it’s seriously like 16×8 or something) will be tricky with one adult.
And sure enough, Friday comes and it is so windy, that once Bart and the boys get to the campsite, they can’t get the tent up…so they eventually just come home and play video games instead.
The next day we rebuild the tent and let the boys hang out in it. Then I build a fire in the smoker and we make smores. All is well and “MOM is the BEST MOM EVER and can we go camping for reals with you! YAY.” is what I hear now…music to this jealous mama’s ears.
So…we will go on a camping adventure this summer. Until then, it is hanging out in the back yard in a huge tent for us.
Not SMORE pictures
- This is just an accident waiting to happen…
Finding Joy 