Camping In

Over the weekend, the kids were ecstatic about the father and child camping that Mama Sez talked about that they continued the experience at home...inside the house, that is.

After some begging, we acquiesce as the two older kids gave persuasive reasons: (1) it's a long weekend as Monday was a holiday here in the Philippines; and, (2) so that their two younger siblings can join them inside the tent and also get the feel of camping out...er, in.

We used to pitch it for them but this time they did it themselves with some help from their caregivers. They even were the ones to teach the latter how to do it. Well, they had it all-- camping in the comfort and safety inside the house. But a bonfire...that's another story, it cannot happen this time.

We have camped out as a family a couple of times inside our yard after we bought the tent as a gift for our older son a couple of years ago...and we did have a small bonfire, barbecue, storytelling and lots of eating to complete the experience.

The long weekend passed with a tent in the middle of our living room and the older kids sleeping there at night. Of course, there was some resistance when it was time to put it away. I gave them the assurance again that we would camp out at least one time during our summer vacation. We just had to locate a suitable site in any one of the places we'll be visiting.