Backyard Camping

Last week, at some point, for some reason, I promised Johnny we’d go camping in the backyard if he would obey orders and go to bed or stay in bed or something. I had honestly forgotten all about that promise, but he sure didn’t! “My daddy said we’re gonna go camping in the yard,” he told his teacher when we arrived to school Friday.

So we did. Friday after work I put up our giant 8-person tent in the backyard, hauled out the air mattress and camping chairs, and set up camp. The two of us went out at bedtime and really “roughed it”—computer, phone, tablet and all. Johnny wound up staying up much later than normal watching shows. Finally I had to pull the plug on electronics and forced us to go to sleep sometime around 10:30. We slept pretty well through a windy, rainy night, and actually made it until morning. When we woke up, a cold front had moved through and it was in the 40s.

I was too lazy to take the tent down, and it proved to be a smart move! On Wednesday night, Johnny wouldn’t stay in bed because he was scared of a “green alien ghostie” (Mr. Burns from the X-Files episode of The Simpsons I foolishly let him watch). So he took my spot on the big bed and I went out to the tent and slept! We may just have to leave it up permanently.