Leading up to this, Dave kept asking Amanda if she wanted to sleep in the tent too but Amanda wanted no part of it. She didn't like the idea of Eva abandoning her, leaving her to sleep all alone in the room they share.
She tried to convince Eva that it would be best if she slept in the house, in her bed, rather than in the tent.
"But Eva, if you sleep in the tent, you won't have lullabies at night, you know."
None of it phased Eva. She had her mind set on sleeping under the stars.
The morning of the great camp-out, I told the girls about how they could have a campfire, make S'mores, see fireflies, and sing songs around the campfire.
And just like that, Amanda turned on her heel and went back to her bedroom to pack a suitcase. She came out minutes later, fully dressed, pulling her lavender Tinkerbell suitcase behind her.
"What have you got in there," I asked.
"My pajamas and all of my stuffed animals," she replied.
Apparently something in my description about the upcoming camping activities had piqued her interest. All day long, she talked about how she was so excited to sleep in the tent.
As the day went on, Dave realized that our queen sized air mattress was somewhere in storage so he borrowed his mom's. I gathered sheets, pillows and blankets. Long pants and sweatshirts for sitting around the fire. Bug spray. Flashlights.
We went to a party at some friends' house, let the kids swim in the kiddie pool, and ate picnic food. Amanda even lost her front tooth, #3 for her! She asked if the Tooth Fairy would be able to find her if she was sleeping in the tent. I told her that the Tooth Fairy is like Santa, and they use GPS to find children.
By 6:00, friends who we hadn't seen in a while were still trickling in, arriving late to the party due to other plans. Unfortunately we had to leave in order to get the "campsite" ready. Dave said,"Maybe camping tonight wasn't such a good idea." Too late. The girls were already too excited to back out now.
We arrived home and set to work on getting beds ready. I was feeling adventurous and thought maybe Liam and I could join the rest of the family. The truth is, it did look like fun and I hadn't been camping since the cross-country road trip Dave and I did back in 2003. In fact, the tent still had some of the red sand in it from out west, a souvenir from the beautiful parks in Utah.
Dave brought Liam's pack and play out and set it up for him. Liam couldn't wait to get into the tent once he saw that. Next step, setting up beds for the rest of the family. Unfortunately we learned that the air mattress the girls were going to sleep on was only a twin, and a small twin at that. I couldn't imagine the girls squishing together on that.
Dave threw down a feather bed, which is meant to go on top of a mattress for extra comfort & warmth, and put on the sheets. I laid down and tried it out, and realized there was no way I could sleep on that. It made no difference and felt like I was laying right on the ground. I exited the tent to find some flashlights and learned that all of the batteries had died.
Meanwhile, the girls were going in and out of the tent, leaving the zipper open each time. When they were in the tent, they were bouncing all over the airbed, repeatedly asking when we could make s'mores. That's when Dave realized that the tent was awfully close to the fire pit and probably wouldn't be wise to do a campfire after all.
It was approaching Liam's bedtime and it was still completely light outside. With the girls' loud bursts of excitement, the random firecrackers going off in our neighborhood, and the sounds of traffic and sirens going by on our busy road, I quickly realized that sleep was not going to happen anytime soon. And when Liam is ready for bed, he's ready for bed.
My mood was going south, fast and my patience was starting to run out.
I gave it a few more minutes before I finally threw in the towel, choosing to bail on this camping adventure. I assigned the Tooth Fairy job to Dave and carried Liam into the house, tucking him in comfortably in his crib. He was asleep within seconds and I started to relax, thinking about the quiet night ahead of me. I settled into bed with my laptop and a book.
Meanwhile, I communicated with Dave via Instant Messenger for updates. Things were going well out in the backyard!
Until the fireflies came out. And then the girls realized that somehow, while they were all in the tent, the Tooth Fairy had mysteriously come and gone, leaving a dollar under Amanda's pillow. For some reason, this frightened Eva and she no longer wanted any part of being in the tent.
At 9:00, an hour and a half after her normal bedtime, I went out, walked her back to the house and tucked her in without protest. Like Liam, she was asleep almost instantly.
And then there were two.
Much to my surprise, Amanda was the only one to make it all night long.
This morning, she was eager to tell us all about her evening. Looking at constellations, using Dave's iPhone app to learn their names and watching the fireflies were highlights.
And then she said,"It was so much fun, I want to do it again tonight!"
Eva says she wants to join her. Unfortunately, the forecast calls for rain, so it's going to have to wait until another night.
As for Liam and I, we'll wait another year or two and try again.
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