Roughin It

The weather was perfect, the excitement filled the air and we were going to do it: rough it tent style. The kids were flying with anticipation of checking out their new haunts for the weekend and well, truthfully, I was fighting with my inner Princess to stay down and not go all diva on me about sleeping on the ground, having no running water nor toilet within 25 steps from me.

Calling upon my inner girl guide experiences hidden within the deep recesses of my overloaded brain, I managed to erect the tent at a record speed of one hour. And during that time, a few expletives were let go, sand and dirt got tracked into the tent (the horror upon horrors for a anal clean freak) as the kids attempted to climb in to check the digs out and I only managed drill my finger into the ground with the mallet once.

With our palace finally established we quickly began to furnish the inside with the needed necessities to survive the weekend: a queen airbed, futon mattress, sleeping bags, blankets, pillows, stuffed animal friends, shelves to put drinks, snacks and yes, the portable DVD player on. Our palace could now rival any harem tent for luxury. After a fabulous BBQ dinner at a picnic table, teaching my son how to pee in the trees and jumping into our PJ's, we settled in for the night with a movie, chips and serious cuddles on the airbed.

A few hours later, the sun finally went down and it was time for bed. The kids were out immediately, cuddled into one another while I lay there starring at the ceiling listening to the noises about me and knew that there would be minimal sleep for me that night. The Mommy Ears kicked in picking up every noise right down to a mouse fart. But the lack of Z's was well worth it seeing the huge grin on my children's faces when they woke up in the morning and enthusiastically declared that camping is so much fun.

The sad thing of this story? We roughed it in our backyard and I snuck into the house a few times to pee on the toilet. And the funny part of the story? I have promised the kids to take them camping this summer outside of the backyard. Snort, don't worry, I am laughing at the thought too.