We went camping prior to the 4th of July with Chris' family. The goal was to go up to the family ranch in Diamond Fork Canyon, the normal spot that we have gone camping multiple times over the years. However, in Utah we are in the midst of another drought, and with the water restrictions coupled with our inability to do any fires (plus two kids age 3 and under), we opted to do some backyard camping—maybe with a side of glamping, since we were close to non-camping amenities.
We were looking forward to using our new tent. We have been using a 4-person tent up to this point, and let's be honest—the tent sizing charts are ridiculous and are equivalent to a sardine can. A 4-person tent means 3 people sleep in a row with a 4th person sleeping perpendicular at the head of feet of the other 3. We had been exploring different ways to have a better sleeping experience for our daughter, by either purchasing something that would blackout her sleeping area or expanding the footprint of the tent. One of those options presented a challenge in that our 4-person tent was not high enough to fit it (plus, an adult cannot stand upright in the tent). Even though we opted for something else, we think we made the better solution—purchasing a new tent altogether! We were at Costco and happened upon a 10-person tent that had built-in lighting. The tent was great and fit a pack-and-play, a camping chair, two cots with our mattress and sleeping bags on top, with plenty of floor to have comfortable space for sitting or walking. Chris (with some help) was able to get the tent up with few problems.
The one problem ... take a look for yourself. Chris was working on one side of the tent and looked away for a second, and
Cassie was on the other side of the tent trying to unfold all of the pre-attached tent poles when WHACK! Since this tent is an instant tent, it's all pre-attached and assembled so that it goes up easier without much of the hassle of feeding tent poles through holes and the like. All of that spring-loaded pre-attachment smacked Cassie below her right eye and left its mark. The swelling was fast and, according to Chris, went out almost as far as the tip of her nose. Cassie put some ice on it (and kept doing so) for the duration of the camping trip.
With Cassie now unable to help, Chris finished getting the tent all ready for our adventure with the aforementioned setup of sleeping areas, chair, and gear. We had a great time having pizza and making s'mores with the added bonus of peanut butter spread on the graham cracker (only Chris and his dad do this).
We all slept fairly well and woke up to a nice, cool morning. Chris received some camping equipment for Christmas last year, including a Coleman cooking stove and stand, a multitool, and cooking utensils—and he wanted an opportunity to use them for the first time. He and his dad were able to cook pancakes, eggs, and bacon and have a good time talking and spending time together. Later, for dinner, we prepared tin foil dinners and had homemade vanilla ice cream and dutch oven peach cobbler.
All in all, we had a great time spending time with family, enjoying the outdoors, and having good food.
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