Thursday, July 17, 2008

A little summer fun

My friend Tricia always has the best ideas for her kids. They make cars out of boxes and have a drive in movie night in their family room - she even pauses the movie half way and opens a concession stand so her kids can buy snacks. She always takes them to the library in the summer and has picnics in the park or in the family room if it's too hot. They have a garden that the kids help with in the summer and she likes to take them on field trips when they are not in school. This summer, since gas prices are so high, she decided instead of going away to go camping they'd do it at home. They put the up tent in the backyard, grill hamburgers for dinner or do foil dinners, roast marshmallows and make S'mores and then tell scary stories before going to sleep in the tent. They've already done this several times this summer so I decided it was time to give my kids a little summer fun. Inspired by Tricia's e-mail this morning I surprised the boys with the tent in the backyard. They immediately took out a blanket, pillows and toys and of course asked for snacks. I gave them their lunch in the tent and Popsicles since it's pretty warm even in the shade. I don't think we'll sleep out there tonight, but I'll keep it up so they have a few days to play "camping" and get outside a little. I am hoping they will have so much fun playing "camping" that we can plan a weekend to go for real.

8 comments:

Kel said...

That looks like so much fun!! I bet Trevor and Colin loved it. I think we'll try doing that in our backyard. :)

Lisa Tippetts said...

You are such a good mom! It looks like they had a blast!

Heidi said...

What a fun idea! I bet they had so much fun! Good practice for when you really go camping.

Steph said...

How funny that Zack wanted to do the same thing this week! Did you ever do that as a kid?

Kasey said...

Stephanie,
I remember playing in tents in your backyard! Sometimes we would try and sleep in a tent in the backyard but I would always wake up and go back into the house.

Borino said...

I love that!!! I think that is such a cute idea! Maybe the girls would like that too!

steph j. said...

What a fun mom, it makes the rest of us look bad, but thanks for the cute ideas.

Kasey said...

Steph J,
Oh please...I did that so they could get out of the house and stop bugging me.