Back Yard Camping

Yea, I know. It's lame. It didn't start out to be a camping excursion though. We were just supposed to be picking up our kid from Grammy and Grampie's house in Maine. We had just bought a big-assed tent that the whole family can fit into: parents kids and nephews. The kind with the door on the front instead of a zipper. It's a Coleman. It has a screen-house attached to it that zips up to make another room if you want. G7G have a huge back yard: just the place to set this thing up and try it out. Good idea Honey, I can set up my new Nemo Obi-1 and try that out too! So, set them up we did (and by "we" I mean "I"). Air mattresses inflated and sleeping bags were installed in the Tent-Mahal. There you go baby, if you and the kid need me, I'll be in the little green one over there on my Thermarest. Yea. Right. It seems that my wife's parent's yard is patrolled by Grizzly Bears, Hungry Wolves, Rabid Mose and all other manner of predatory, crazed and generally grumpy wild animals. I had no idea that the yard was such a dangerous place until she told me! Furthermore, it turns out that I, and I done was responsible for sleeping i  the Big Tent so that I could fend off the Wild Hoards when they attacked. Really?

Still, a night under the stars is a night under the stars and they were amazing up there! We got to sit around the campfire withe her parents (which we could probably never do in "real" camping) and sing camp fire songs. We roasted marshmallows and snuggled into our sleeping bags to enjoy the first really nice sleeping night of the summer. Sadly, having a nice sleeping night is a sure sign that the summer is slowly drawing to a close. Hopefully we will get a few more of those magical nights before the weather changes.