So, the 5-year-old was given a tent by his grandparents. A 3-person tent. The tent has been in the garage since April. We talked about erecting the tent…never happened. We measured the family room to see if we could put it up indoors…never happened. I started feeling guilty about it. My son never asked about the tent, which made me feel even more guilty.
After much scratching of heads…the tent was erected. The instructions were quite easy to follow and were conveniently sewn to the tent bag. With the wind on our property we need all the help we can get. We tied all the guidelines securely.
A bit of background. As a child I slept in a tent once. It rained all night, the tent leaked, and I woke up in a damp sleeping bag. My husband has, to the best of my knowledge, never slept outdoors.
I took each of my daughters to Brownie Girl Scout campouts. We slept in other people’s tents overnight. The first time we went was the year of the return of the cicadas…had to move hundreds of cicada carcasses to erect tent…chirping all night long. The second time…torrential rain all night long. The third time…the campsite in Hershey, PA, was next to a freight train line…trains all night long.
So, we are not wilderness people at all. Our idea of roughing it is spending the night at a Holiday Inn Express instead of a Marriott Suites.
Yesterday afternoon I decided that we would spend the night in the tent come what may. My son and I were game. My 9-year-old not so much, in fact she said she would only spend the night in he tenet if nobody stayed inside the house. I got my husband and 12-year-old on board and we were all set.
After much scratching of heads…the tent was erected. The instructions were quite easy to follow and were conveniently sewn to the tent bag. With the wind on our property we need all the help we can get. We tied all the guidelines securely. After an hour, we had one fully functioning tent:
And one happy boy:
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