Great American Backyard Campout

This weekend I hosted our first-ever Great American Backyard Campout. Originally we were going to get a group of friends together and go to a campground to camp, but after getting little interest from friends and realizing that we’d be camping two hot summer weekends in a row, I made the decision to just do a campout/sleepover in our own backyard. Both the kids and I were so extremely excited in the days leading up to the big event, though my dear husband kept mumbling something about my confirmed insanity.

If anyone has the yard to host an event like this, I think we do. Our ¾ acre yard is wooded in the rear of the backyard with a large cleared section towards the house. Not to mention my large tri-level deck and firepit area. We set up four tents in the woods behind our playset, and camping in our yard was just about the closest you could get to the real thing! Of course, the boys would have had a blast even in a regular suburban yard with a makeshift sheet for a tent, but (me being the overachiever that I am) I felt a nice sense of pride from being able to give the kids an authentic experience.

We had a total of nine boys sleep over (including my own two). I had made the invitation “parent optional” but planned to use the BSA guideline of 1 parent per 5 children, so I wanted to have one other parent there with us. Luckily, two parents ended up coming to stay, and in hindsight two or even three ‘extra’ parents would have been the ideal number. Not really because the boys needed that much supervision, but because at this age (mostly 3-7 years old) they still need a lot of help with things like serving themselves food and getting their things laid out in the tents. The two three-year-olds especially needed a lot of my assistance, so I was glad to have the extra hands!

Contrary to my usual philosophy of keeping kids busy as much as possible, I did not schedule any real activities for them to do. GASP! It was a hard decision, but the right one, I think. I did, however, let the parents know to have their kids bring all sorts of artillery, including squirt guns, Nerf guns and lightsabers. The one complaint I hear from my OS about our Scout meetings is that he doesn’t get enough time to just PLAY with his friends there, so I figured the boys would enjoy the uninhibited free time. I think they really did. The late afternoon after they arrived was spent playing in the sprinkler and slip-n-slide, and their constant battles and duels afterward were enough to keep them all busy all evening!

We did a simple dinner on the grill of hot dogs and hamburgers. The boys all got to shuck corn and slather it with butter and I wrapped the ears up in foil and threw them in hot coals for some yummy roasted corn on the cob. Later that night I started a fire and they all got to roast marshmallows and have s’mores. In all the commotion of getting kids marshmallows on their sticks and breaking up chocolate and graham crackers, I somehow didn’t get a s’more for myself. This makes two camping trips in a row where I didn’t get a s’more, something that I think will need to be remedied very soon!

The most difficult part of the entire campout was bedtime. I had the brilliant idea of letting all the older boys all sleep together in one tent without an adult, knowing full well there would be some talking and playing around, but I figured after so much running around in the heat all day they would all pass out soon enough. But by 11pm I began resorting to threats to get them to quiet down, and it was midnight before most of them were asleep, including the three year olds in my own tent! I’m not entirely sure I would let them sleep alone again, but I know they really did think it was fun to be together in there. For almost all of them this was their first-ever sleepover away from a family member, and I think having their buddies together and the novelty of the sleeping in a tent helped keep them occupied enough to not think of being homesick. I guess that is enough for me to put aside my own sleep deprivation… this one time at least.

As I predicted, the boys were up bright and early despite their late night, grabbing their Nerf guns and lightsabers on their way out of the tent. Breakfast was a sort of omelet made in hallowed out orange peels, wrapped in foil and baked on the grill. I had found the idea in a kids camping cook book, and it was somewhat successful but didn’t go over that well with the boys. My backup plan of cereal did the trick for anyone still hungry though!

The kids all got to take home goodie bags, complete with Adventure Journals and Ranger Rick stickers, courtesy of the National Wildlife Federation who sent me a box full of goodies as a thank you for hosting a campout. There were even cute little tote bags for the grown-ups that participated (and I’m a big fan of tote bags!). I would call this campout as much a learning experience for me as a fun time for the kids, since I got to test out their interests and my own limitations. Over all it was a highly successful event. Sure, there were some tears from hurt feelings or water squirted in the face, and there were a few times they yelled at each other for wanting the same gun, but it was nothing that didn’t pass in a few seconds, and everyone left with a smile on their face.

I am so glad I decided to change my plans and share my yard with all these kids. It gave many more of them a chance to spend the night outside and have a lot of good friendship-building time with their buddies than we would have had if we’d camped elsewhere. And besides, the event IS called the “Great American BACKYARD Campout.” I’m thrilled that we pulled it off without a hitch and that the boys had so much fun. We will definitely be hosting the event next year. Luckily, I get an entire year to recover from the experience before I have to do it again!

Melody's Book Picks: Duck Tents

I've decided to occasionally throw in a book review on this blog that relates to something in the out of doors. It could be a book on hiking or camping, a novel that takes place in the wilderness, or in this case, a children's book aimed to get them interested and excited about nature.

I picked up this cute book called "Duck Tents" by Lynne Berry. It is an adorable story of five little ducks who go "camping" and fishing in their own backyard. I am always on the look out for books about camping for my youngest son, and surprisingly I think that such a topic is hard to come by for the pre-K age group. So, you can well imagine that this book popped right out at me as a wonderful addition to our evening story time.

The tale of the five little duck's backyard excapades is told in simple rhyming verse, but not so simple as to make you, the adult reader, want to roll your eyes in boredom. It is by no means what I would call a very 'short' story for this age, but the bright illustrations and fun text will keep it moving along even for a very young child. All the most important aspects of camping are present, from putting up the tents to fishing to roasting marshmallows. The end even covers the sometimes scarry subject of sounds in the night - but ends happily enough with all the ducks snug and safe.

All in all this was a delightful book for a young child, and one I would highly recommend to anyone who might be taking a youngster camping for the first time. It will also make a great book to bring along on a family camping trip, or maybe just read in the backyard with a makeshift 'tent' made out of a sheet and a clothesline. Snuggle up with your little one and go on an exciting but safe adventure with the five little ducks.

Duck Tents
Written by: Lynne Berry
Illustrated by: Hime Nakata
Melody's recommended age: 2-4 years, but interesting enough for older siblings to listen too

Camping at First Landing: When Plans Go Awry

This weekend we finally went to the beach! I can officially now believe that summer has started. It certainly was hot enough!

Unfortunately, very little this weekend went as planned.

I had planned that we would get to First Landing State Park quite early on Friday, preferably around 4pm when check-in begins. I knew that a good number of the campsites backed up to a very busy road that connects two sections of busy Viginia Beach, and I'm a light sleeper so wanted to make sure we got a site as far away from the road as possible. Well, we didn't end up leaving very early, and of course got stuck in all the rush-hour traffic leading to the tunnel, so it was nearly 7pm by the time we arrived. Suffice to say all the "good" sites were taken, and as I feared, our site backed up to the road. It was a really beautiful site nestled in the forested dunes and surrounded by beachy trees with lots of good climbing branches. If it hadn't been for the near constant roar of traffic, it would have been a little slice of heaven. But thankfully, it was not the end of the world, and we almost got used to the noise by the end of the weekend. I did sleep badly the first night with all the annoyingly loud bar traffic roaring through, but by the second night I was tired enough to not notice it as much!

Since I had planned to get to the camp ground early, I also had wanted to go to the welcome campfire program being hosted by the Rangers at 8pm that night. We set up camp as quickly as we could and then drove over to the visitor center to find the campfire. The description mentioned stories and I hoped to hear something about the area or the Indians or anything I might use for Scouts. We looked all around for the campfire. No luck. Sigh... Well, instead we went down on the beach and played around in the sand and water while the sun finished setting. It was a nice evening, even if I didn't get a new story to add to my repitoire.

Back at the campsite I lit a fire and started getting the kids ready for bed. I was thoroughly amused by the small group of teenages that walked hesitantly over to our site to ask how I got my fire lit. Apparently this was their first foray into the woods and they'd been trying for hours, unsuccessfuly, to light a fire to cook their hot dogs. A Scout is helpful, so while DH took the kids to the bathrooms, I went over and helped the next generation by showing them how to build a fire. They were nice kids, not at all rowdy as some teenagers can be, and very thankful for my help. I hope they have an easier time of it on their next trip out in the wilderness!

So, the next morning I had planned to go on the "Swamp Stomp" hike being led by park interpreters at 11am. It sounded really neat, with the kids scooping up buckets of swamp water and looking for bugs and animals that lived there. It figures that 7am found me scrambling to get the tent unzipped before OS threw up all over the blankets. He hadn't shown any signs of being sick, it was a total surprise. He seemed to feel better after that, so we started our long walk over to the bathrooms and he got sick again on the way. Ummm, no Swamp Stomp for us that day. Bummer. After making it back to the campsite, my poor sick boy crawled back into the tent and went back to sleep for a few hours. At this point we weren't sure if we'd end up having to leave, but we figured for now he was probably more comfortable in the tent than he would be in the car. DH took YS to the playground for a while, then I took him on a bike ride up to explore the visitors center. Miraculously, when OS woke up late that morning he seemed to feel much better and kept down a small amount of food and water. But then he had issues with the other end of his digestive tract, if you know what I mean. Note to self - pack even more emergency underwear for the kids next time.

Well, by 4:00 all the odd sickness seemed to have passed and OS was happily running around the site and swinging from the rope swing that some previous camper had strung up over a pit formed from the bottom of several dunes. So, finally, we got to head to the beach for a little while. The kids had a blast, they love the shallow water and small waves of the Bay. I was very thankful that my big boy got well fast enough to enjoy some part of the day!

After a super yummy dinner on the grill - steak, corn on the cob and garlic bread - I decided to make up for the missed Swamp Stomp hike by going on the interpreter-led Night Hike, which started at 8:30pm. I knew it would be a streatch to have YS hike that much when it was already past his bedtime, but I was determined to get at least one good hike in. I'm so glad we did it, hiking at night was a new experience for the boys, and the interpreter was fantastic with the kids. We listened for different kinds of frogs and owls, watched for bats, and got to test our night vision with a neat experiment. Even though I ended up having to carry YS back on my shoulders, it was a great way to end what had started out as a questionable day.

We woke up late Sunday morning to a stifling heat. The weather on Friday and Saturday had been hot, but tolerable in the shade, and at night it was pleasently cool. Sunday decided to bring on all its heat and humidity with full force. We were already drenched with sweat before we even got out of the tent. Of course, I had thought we'd be up early and take a hike before the heat really set in, but who knew we'd all be so tired we'd sleep in that much? Ahh, but that didn't stop me from making pancakes and bacon for my hubby's Father's Day breakfast! After loading up on the carbs, we decided to try a bike hike instead. We got on our bikes and headed out of the campsite and across the road to do some biking on the Cape Henry Trail. Even though it was hot, the breeze while biking made it a little more tolerable. I'm so very glad that a Scout aquaintence of mine lent us her bike rack for the trip! I'm not sure what we would have done without the bikes there, it really made a big difference, especially just getting to and from the distant bathrooms! I have no idea how far we biked on the trail, but I know my legs and rear end were screaming for mercy by the time we were back at the campsite! It was a good ride.

After the bike hike we hit the beach again for a little bit and then packed up to go home, thouroughly exhausted. Considering we weren't even sure if we'd be able to stay the weekend, I think we had a great trip and still managed to fit a lot of fun stuff in. The kids both kept saying how much they didn't want to leave (they obviously don't long for air conditioning as much as we adults do!), and in the car, just before he fell asleep, YS let out a big sigh and said, "I love our camping trips." Those five words alone made all the stress of plans gone awry completely worth it.