Jack got a tent and sleeping bag for his birthday and every since I've been dreaming up this idea to have a backyard camp out. I built it up in mind to really be something and as it turns out my expectations were not disappointed! We invited 5 of Jack's friends, everyone 4 or almost 4 years old, to our house this past Friday evening. And we told their parents not to stay which I think was something new for several of them. From what the other parents said, the camp out was highly anticipated. I was not brave enough to let 6 kids sleep in my backyard so they all got picked up around 9:30, hence the "mock". The kids didn't care though and they were thrilled to be staying up past dark and seeing stars and playing with flashlights and glow jars. We ended up having a great time and all the kids behaved wonderfully and enjoyed themselves a great deal. The night went so well and the weather was so beautiful we decided to let Jack sleep in the tent with me. He was thrilled. For at least thirty minutes after "going to bed" he laid there with a huge grin on his face. He kept turning on his flashlight to look around and every time I looked at him he looked at me with the biggest eyes and the biggest smile. Thankfully, he eventually fell asleep and so did I. And thankfully, when he woke with the sun at 4:30 he was able to fall back asleep until after 7. Here are some pictures of a few of the things we did at our camp out.
I set up the pool with fish and a fishing pole and we pretended it was a lake.
I had hidden a pile of imported sticks and pine cones in the yard and the kids had to find the wood for the fire. Paul used their findings to start the fire for the hot dogs. Hot dogs a skewed and ready for cooking.
Being careful around the fire and cooking their own dinner for once :)
After dinner we had to pitch the tent. The kids really did their best to help get it up.
Putting the tent poles together.
As soon as the tent was up the kids were climbing in with their sleeping bags. And before I knew what was happening everyone was taking their clothes off and putting on their jammies. Some even thought it was time for sleep! Too funny.
To kill some time waiting for the sun to go down we went on a "hike" around a few houses. Pit stop here to check out the wheat field which Paul is quite thankfully we didn't burn down. Paul also got out his guitar and we sang some songs together. I was very glad our crowd was young because Paul and I did not make a great musical team. I'd say the Hokey Pokey might have been the biggest hit.
Fire round 2. Time to make some s'mores! The kids were so cute as they pulled their chairs around the fire. Haley said she was cold so she got her sleeping bag and wrapped up in it, soon nearly every child had done the same.
Roasting marshmallows!
Jack roasted his marshmallow and then asked for an uncooked one to eat plain. Goofy kid doesn't know what he is missing.
Once s'mores were done we made our glow jars. Each kid got a Mason jar and we dumped the contents of two snapped glow sticks in. They all seemed to love their jars and we managed to make it to the end of the evening before one got accidentally dropped.
Enjoying the tent and the dark and trying to see the stars. We played lots of games in the dark including find the hidden balls with your flashlights and glow jars and pretend you are sleeping and see if any silly monsters come scratching at the tent.
We really had such a great time and from what I hear, all the kids did too. We might have to do this again sometime.
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