Tent Camping Memory
I was just looking through one of my books on "easy" camping (neat stuff in it - and I'm a nut for gadgets and stuff like that) and I remembered one of the first times our family went tent camping about 7 years ago.
Well, actually the first time we went tent camping that year, it was the coldest Memorial Day weekend I remember. My middle nephew and I were in one tent (he was 4 and just wouldn't stop playing with my flashlight) and I was a little agitated about the fact that they'd brought along the fleece sleeping bag our mother had made him.
Here I was in my single sleeping bag, rated for temps down to about 20 degrees, and he's next to me in this pitifully thin indoor sleeping bag. My sister and her husband said he'd be fine, but tossed in an extra blanket with us just to shut me up.
By the middle of the night, it was only 40 degrees outside. I was perfectly warm and comfortable, but I was really worried about him. He'd burrowed into his fleece as far down as he could get, desperately trying to keep warm in his sleep. I wound up doubling up his blanket and getting it tucked in around him, but I still didn't think he was going to be warm enough. So I unzipped the side of my sleeping bag and pulled him into it with me as much as I could.
By morning, he'd wiggled away some, but he was still wrapped up in his blanket pretty tightly. After he woke up, I asked him how he'd slept.... was he warm enough?
Well, he said, "I got cold...." :( See? The poor little fella was freezing! I don't know if what I did helped him be warmer or not, but at some point in his sleep he was aware of being "the coldest he'd ever been."
I think it was on a subsequent camping trip when it was actually summertime and warm, that I decided to try making ball-toss ice cream. Okay, stop right there. Basically you put all the ingredients for the ice cream into a plastic ziploc bag, pack ice and salt around it, wrap that in layers of plastic, and tape a million layers of newspaper around it until you have a basketball-sized... um... well, it was sorta ball shaped. heheh
Then you toss it back and forth (as if it were really a ball) for about 30 minutes, and you magically have ice cream. The middle nephew had already gone to bed. He said he was sleepy and didn't care about the ice cream. (And here I was, thinking that the novelty would be so neat for the kids. Not! LOL)
My brother, sister, and I were tossing this ice cold rock back and forth, and then the game started to get kinda ugly... Dear brother was hurling the ball as hard as he could at his sisters. So... we had to hurl back. hahaha It was like we were trying to kill each other with a medicine ball, throwing it from waist level at the other person.
Then when I decided that the ice cream had to be ready, the three of us, her husband, and my oldest nephew had some.
And darn it, it tasted salty. :(
I guess the salt passed through the plastic via osmosis. It wasn't like the bag came open. So I was disappointed. Not enough novelty in it for me to be happy with the results.
Well, actually the first time we went tent camping that year, it was the coldest Memorial Day weekend I remember. My middle nephew and I were in one tent (he was 4 and just wouldn't stop playing with my flashlight) and I was a little agitated about the fact that they'd brought along the fleece sleeping bag our mother had made him.
Here I was in my single sleeping bag, rated for temps down to about 20 degrees, and he's next to me in this pitifully thin indoor sleeping bag. My sister and her husband said he'd be fine, but tossed in an extra blanket with us just to shut me up.
By the middle of the night, it was only 40 degrees outside. I was perfectly warm and comfortable, but I was really worried about him. He'd burrowed into his fleece as far down as he could get, desperately trying to keep warm in his sleep. I wound up doubling up his blanket and getting it tucked in around him, but I still didn't think he was going to be warm enough. So I unzipped the side of my sleeping bag and pulled him into it with me as much as I could.
By morning, he'd wiggled away some, but he was still wrapped up in his blanket pretty tightly. After he woke up, I asked him how he'd slept.... was he warm enough?
Well, he said, "I got cold...." :( See? The poor little fella was freezing! I don't know if what I did helped him be warmer or not, but at some point in his sleep he was aware of being "the coldest he'd ever been."
I think it was on a subsequent camping trip when it was actually summertime and warm, that I decided to try making ball-toss ice cream. Okay, stop right there. Basically you put all the ingredients for the ice cream into a plastic ziploc bag, pack ice and salt around it, wrap that in layers of plastic, and tape a million layers of newspaper around it until you have a basketball-sized... um... well, it was sorta ball shaped. heheh
Then you toss it back and forth (as if it were really a ball) for about 30 minutes, and you magically have ice cream. The middle nephew had already gone to bed. He said he was sleepy and didn't care about the ice cream. (And here I was, thinking that the novelty would be so neat for the kids. Not! LOL)
My brother, sister, and I were tossing this ice cold rock back and forth, and then the game started to get kinda ugly... Dear brother was hurling the ball as hard as he could at his sisters. So... we had to hurl back. hahaha It was like we were trying to kill each other with a medicine ball, throwing it from waist level at the other person.
Then when I decided that the ice cream had to be ready, the three of us, her husband, and my oldest nephew had some.
And darn it, it tasted salty. :(
I guess the salt passed through the plastic via osmosis. It wasn't like the bag came open. So I was disappointed. Not enough novelty in it for me to be happy with the results.
posted by Me at 8:03 PM
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
<< Home