Camping

     Another one of the things Ruby wanted to do when she returned from spring break was to go camping. She had never been before so I figured a test run spending the night in the back yard would be a good ramp up to the real deal. I set the tent up the afternoon before she got home so I wouldn't have to do it in the dark that night.
     After we concluded her Friday night "party" we grabbed three sleeping bags, a couple flashlights and a sippy of water and make the hike back to the tent. She was a very good sport about carrying her gear. While she was on vacation, she talked about camping out and her Aunt Mandy was nice enough to give her one of her cousin's old sleeping bags. Once in the tent we laid out one of the bags to use as a base layer. We unrolled both of our bags and got inside. It wasn't terribly cold but just enough to need a little cover. I didn't zip my bag and felt perfect.
     Ruby was very curious about all the noises of the outdoors and I spent some time answering all of her inquiries. The moon was bright and we really didn't need either of the flashlights but she played around with hers just for fun. She loved her new-to-her bag and it was a perfect fit.
     I asked her if she wanted me to take the rain fly off the tent so she could see the stars. She did and once I had, we had a great view. It was a clear night and very bright and it was nice to lay back and just look up at the sky. This lasted less than five minutes before it started raining and I had to get out in the downpour to hook the fly back up.
     All in all it was a big sucess. Ruby was a trooper and even with the sound of the rain hitting the tent she was able to hit a sound sleep and stay asleep. In the morning after waking up she wanted to lay in the tent a bit longer. When she was ready we rolled the bags back up and gathered up our gear and made our way back inside for breakfast.
     Later that day, she helped me pack the tent up and I snapped this photo. Note that she was still carrying her unicorn with her. The camping experiment was a great success, she is already asking to go out again. When Sailor gets a bit older we'll have more backyard trial runs and eventually we'll reach a point where we can all go together. I think by that point though we'll need a bigger tent.