taking on the august challenge...

Abbie over at Greening Sam and Avery has been issuing monthly challenges to her readers. Things that push them out of their comfort zones. Well August's challenge was to go camping with your kids, not in a camper or a cabin, but in a tent. We have not really ever been camping with the kids, Brianna has (sort of) slept in a tent at the Relay for Life the last couple of years, but generally that ends up with her screaming her head off in the middle of the night freaked out about being in a tent. So, while I really did want to do this, I was very afraid of what might happen! I asked my sister if she would want to "camp out" with her oldest (who is almost 5) while we were at our parents this last weekend. Mom and dad had a party for all of the people who helped them renovate their house and move last year so after we had spent all day outside at the party (complete with a bonfire) we set up the tent and camped out with the 2 older kids. Now, calling it camping might be a stretch since we really just slept in the tent, but with Brianna's track record, I thought that was a big enough step for this time around. We didn't get to bed until abotu 12:30/1am so the kids fell right asleep. It was a pretty mild night so we didn't need too many blankets. The kids had sleeping bags and were perfectly warm (Brianna slept in a nightgown). I got a little chilly in the middle of the night but it really was pretty nice. Other than my sister waking up to a spider crawling on her, the night was pretty uneventful. The kids even slept until 7:30 am (which is later than her son sleeps when he is inside)! I really want to do this again with Brianna and cook dinner oustide and really camp (even if it is only in our backyard). We'll see if we get a chance to do that anytime soon. Since we are gone every weekend it is hard to squeeze this in, but we're going to try. The August Challenge was a success in my book!