Camping

Because last night was the beginning of the Feast of Booths (or Tabernacles), we slept in a tent in the back yard.

I've never slept in a tent before.  And it rained.  But it was fun anyway.  Though I'll be the first to say it turns out that sleeping on the ground while pregnant is quite a bit different then while not pregnant.  I'm not sure if the baby protested by moving all night or if he's been moving all night anyway and I'm just usually much too soundly asleep to feel him rolling around in there.

Ben has wanted to go camping since I first met him.  His family used to go quite a bit when he was younger and he greatly enjoyed it.  He's not your average "outdoor guy" in that he's not into hunting and likes going fishing only if someone he knows and loves wants to take him along (*cough*...Dad...*cough*) and his preferred clothing doesn't happen to be jeans and flannel shirts (khakis and polos, more like it).  But his family used to go camping together and spend that time without the distractions of other friends or outside influences and that's what he loved.  I think my experiences growing up were a lot different because of not going to school, but I do understand why it's so special to him.  What's funny is that I only went camping once or twice with my grandparents because neither of my parents liked camping at all.  My dad thinks camping is staying in hotel room with a broken TV and Mom doesn't want anything to do with a tent in the rain.  Probably why I found it amusing that we slept in a tent on a night when it rained pretty much all night.

At any rate, Ben's been looking forward to this for weeks.  Last night he was so excited setting everything up I don't think he stopped grinning the whole evening.  Grandma was pretty skeptical.  I explained but I don't think she quite realizes that this is something Ben really, really enjoys and it's something he's more or less given up for a time because taking care of Grandma and going camping are not compatible. 

At any rate, we built a campfire in the metal firepit and roasted some marshmallows and carried out all our fleecy blankets and it wasn't nearly as cold out as I was expecting, in spite of the rain.  We spent a lot of evenings sitting outside on the glider last summer and it was a little nostalgic to do so last night also.  And a couple nice features about camping in the back yard are still having access to the bathroom and to Netflix on the Internet.   

Though I did learn a few things: keeping a towel for wiping wet feet is important, and you might be dry IN the tent, but that doesn't mean you should let anything touch the SIDES of the tent while it's raining.  Great dampness will definitely ensue.