Sleeping with the Crickets

She knew exactly what to do with these poles and got busy.

Roasting marshmallows

All Smiles

Tucked in their tent for the night

And here they are at 6:15 am Sunday morning

Matt is a wonderful dad. He's always embraced any activity to share special time with Lily Grace. He's never worried about how he looks, how tired he is or how involved the activity may be, he just knows it means special time and memories with his little girl. Dancing, dress up, playing Chutes and Ladders (until they both win), reading and of course date night are among some of the special activities they share. So, when Lily Grace recently took an interest in camping and asked daddy to take her, of course he was all in. Matt lucked up with this one. Camping is something he enjoys and grew up doing so he was all to eager to share it with Lily Grace.

Their first order of business was to gather supplies. They shopped and found the perfect tent (according to Matt) and all the necessary items like sleeping bags and a lantern. They started preparing for this several weeks ago and have been waiting on the weather to cooperate. They didn't have to waste time debating on where to camp, one nervous mommy provided the answer, our backyard.

Yesterday, the big day arrived. They set up camp and after having practiced setting up the tent in our living room (yes, you read that right) upon it's arrival, Lily Grace seemed pretty knowledgeable when it came to helping daddy out.

My contribution to their adventure was a "rugged" dinner, black bean soup and I did the dishes, no creek necessary.

After dinner, they built a campfire and roasted S'mores. She thought it was the greatest thing. I personally thought it was a waste of a good Hershey bar. HA!

After roasting marshmallows, it was inside for a quick bath. (There are limits on roughing it when you have church the next morning so...)

Matt and I wavered back and forth all week on whether or not she would sleep out there the entire night. And after her bath and returning to the tent, there was no doubt about it her making it. She was so excited and wore the biggest smile. They only popped in once to go potty and during that time, I got to hear all about sleeping outside and hearing the crickets and the lesson that daddy gave on how crickets go about making that sound. Around 9:00 pm I received a text from Matt and a picture of our little camper fast asleep.

This morning, she informed me that they didn't make it to playing cards, or reading all 20 books she had taken out there so they would do that tonight. Too funny! Matt immediately reminded her that tomorrow was a work day and they would be sleeping inside tonight. I think it's safe to say, that while camping with his little girl for the first times was the best time he's ever had camping, I don't think it was the most comfortable and not as much so as when he did it as a boy. HA! HA!