My son and I have anxiously awaited the right time for his first overnight camping experience, and the arrival of spring weather gave us a chance to do that last week. Armed with a Harry Potter lantern and a good book ("The BFG" by Roald Dahl) we ventured into the wilderness. Not that far into the wilderness, actually, we set up camp in the backyard in a tent my mother gave him three years ago to play in.
I had a great time teaching him how to set up a tent, and he was very helpful hammering in the stakes. We packed the tent with sleeping bags, some drinking water, a flashlight and some extra pillows. By the time we started settling in, the sun had already started fading. There was a fantastic full moon that spread its light through the tent screens, and Sean loved looking up and seeing stars instead of a bedroom ceiling. After several pages of reading about the big friendly giant, Sean drifted off to sleep.
He woke up around 3:30 a.m. and asked for something I hadn't thought of packing - tissues. I knew he wasn't about to leave the tent for the darkened wilderness, so first I offered him a sleeve of my shirt, but sensing the flow of mucus could be more than I'd anticipated, I suggested - helpfully, I thought - that he blow his nose in the corner of the tent, and we'd clean it up in the morning. But his Momma taught him better than that, so I made the "camper's walk of shame" back into our house, and got the tissues and some extra blankets, and his mommy made sure I took Sean his stuffed bunny with me on the return trip to the tent.
A few hours later, I woke up with the surround-sound symphony of the neighborhood songbirds. It was a stunning and wonderful sound, almost humbling in a way. I heard Sean start to rustle too, and I hoped he offer a trenchant analysis of the outdoor dawn. Instead, he woke up and said "Am I having a heart attack?" (For the record, he wasn't - he was just a little congested.) We didn't spend much time roughing it after that. Once he came around, it was time to trade the fresh open air for morning cartoons.
PHOTO: MommyG prepares to do a walk-through to ensure that our rugged outdoor abode is retrofitted for maximum coziness.
2 comments:
My friend Kelly said that her husband would be in huge trouble if he ever posted a picture of her "back side!"
well, I would tell "Kelly" that this is an exaggerated view, because the black pants fade into the surrounding darkness, giving the impression it's bigger than it actually is.
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