Faux Camping

There was no school yesterday and it was Matthew's Friday off so I had planned a couple months ago for this weekend to be our first camping trip of the year. Unfortunately, I came down with a sufficiently bad head cold to keep us home. We didn't let that stop us from doing a little faux camping in the back yard though. Matthew set up the tent after school on Thursday and we let the kids stay up until it was dark (and well past their bedtime). We ate an unusually late and rather hodge podge dinner and Mercy's attention from 7 until 9 was particularly unfocused so she had an exceptionally hard time falling asleep. We also wouldn't let her have her moose, since we don't plan on taking it on real camping trips, so she wiggled and complained and rolled and whined until 10:30 pm and my patience ran out. She and I migrated into the house and both of us slept soundly in our own beds while the boys all roughed it outside. 

I took a long nap after breakfast on Friday morning while Matthew and the boys did some woodworking projects in the garage and Mercy watched Frozen on her tablet (again). I was feeling a bit better by early afternoon, so we packed a picnic lunch and walked over to the Mirehaven park where we met the Jensen's and played for about an hour.

The wind picked up in the evening, so instead of roasting our hot dogs and marshmallows over an open flame in the fire pit, Matthew fired up our camping stove and we cooked our dinner on it. After the S'more's I'd promised Mercy, we cleaned up and settled down in the tent for our Friday night movie. We watched the BFG on the laptop, which was at least a novel experience since we all agreed we prefer watching inside with chairs and couches to sit on. 

While Mercy still stayed up well past her bed time, she at least wasn't all riled up when it was time to go to sleep. Matthew and I also switched places so she had to lay down next to Dad, who isn't nearly as easy to bother as Mom. To everyone's relief, she fell asleep after only 15 minutes of fussing. I had to get up and use the bathroom around 2:00 am and my nice warm bed tempted me beyond my will to return to a cold sleeping bag. Matthew got up around 3 and lit the stove, so the tent warmed up nicely for everyone else during the coldest hours of the night.

Hyrum's cub scout den had a short hike this morning at 10:00, so he and Matthew went on that while the other two and I went to Walmart to return some shoes and pick up some hiking treats. We had some lunch, then met up with the Brown's at the Volcanoes for another hike. Mercy was an absolute champion and hiked three miles with barely a complaint. It helped that Luci and Cora took turns holding her hand and urging her on. It was a beautiful day and good times were had by all.

 We picked up popsicles on the way home since everyone had done such a good job. After our cold treat, Matthew, Mercy, and Abraham all took various length naps while Hyrum and I went over to the Jolley's to pick up a mattress they no longer needed. I made dinner, then while Matthew got everyone through baths, I went back to Walmart for the third time today to pick up a plastic sheet to go on Mercy's new bed. She very rarely has night time accidents, but we wanted to be safe just in case. It's a full size bed, which is what my Grandma had, and it's heartwarming to see her old sheets being used again. We got everyone to sleep at a reasonable hour, then I worked on cleaning up, getting Easter baskets ready, preparing sharing time for primary, and finally showering myself. Matthew worked out in the garage on a present for the kids right up until people started arriving for Elder's Quorum game night.