Backyard Camping Staycation

Posted by Jamie McIntosh May 12, 2009

Last weekend, my family had its first vacation at home, without even leaving the yard. My husband set up a tent in our backyard, my sons helped to dig a fire pit, and we drug out every piece of camping gear my husband ever drooled over from his Cabela’s catalog. Between our lanterns, camping pads, and fold-up tables, no comfort was spared! How fortunate that a fast food kid’s meal earlier in the week yielded three magnifying bug viewers to give us our first activity. For once, I was happy when I opened the compost bin and swarms of insects came buzzing out. I’ve never examined a fruit fly so closely. Did you know that they have orange eyes?

After roasting our hotdogs and marshmallows over the fire, we made leaf and bark rubbings with crayon and paper. This made me realize that I can’t identify every species of tree in my backyard. A trip to the library is in order this week, to get a tree identification field guide.

After dark, I allowed the internet to provide me with a range of age-appropriate ghost stories. The keepers went into a file, and the losers stoked the fire. The best part of the evening was retiring to the house and my comfortable bed around 10 pm, as our tent wasn’t quite big enough to hold our family of five. A backyard campout, with a mother’s day bonus of sleeping in for me. Perfect!