We had decided to go in on renting a carpet cleaner with some of our neighbor friends, and since it was a 24 hour rental, our time slot was for the early part of the morning. So we rushed around opening all the windows and moved furniture into the far reaches of the rooms (you may not remember that we have wall to wall carpeting in this rental, with then exception of the plumbed-in rooms). It took me just under an hour to whip through the main floor and we were on our way out the door to the market.
Many hours later, with two fairly cranky children, we arrived back home. But the carpets were far from dry so we quarantined ourselves in the kitchen and took turns napping in the basement.
As it got closer to supper time and the carpets were still fairly damp, I came up with this brilliant idea to set up the tent in the backyard and have a family camp out. That way, the carpets would surely be dry by the morning, and I thought it'd be fun! So we spent a good hour carrying plenty of blankets and padding and books and toys out to our backyard getaway destination. By 6:30 p.m. the kids were showing signs of slowing down, bellies full and a long day behind them, I assumed it would be only a matter of minutes to get them down. Boy was I wrong.
They spent the first hour in the tent rolling around on the blankets, giggling and climbing all over each other and me, like little kittens. They spent the second hour in the tent listening to stories and songs and constant warnings to lay back down. They spent the third hour in the tent whining and complaining and fighting and crying. I'm not sure why at this point I didn't clue into the fact that my brilliant idea was in fact a bad one.
Robin showed up around this time, after having spent a few hours in the studio, thinking he would crawl into his sleeping bag and doze off to sleep. HA! So then the two of us spent another hour keeping the two kids separated from one another at each end of the tent only to witness them getting more and more wired in their overtired state. I resigned myself to try and ignore the little beast that was pulling my hair, sitting on my head and perching himself on top of my lower back while giggling and screeching. But it was when I got bit that I decided, okay that's enough! Wet carpets or no wet carpets, this was ludicrous!
Robin took Roscoe into the house and Isla and I furthered another 1/2 hour before it started to thunder and we were driven indoors as well. The kids fell promptly asleep in their beds, as I knew they would, and I had a fitful night of restless periods only to wake up feeling hungover this morning. Ummm, it really was a bad idea. We certainly won't be taking them camping this year, or only on the condition that we bring separate tents.
Well, I'm off to bed, in hopes of a better night of sleep and fewer casualties.
PS: I decided against posting a picture of the teeth marks left on my shoulder, so sorry no photos tonight.
2 comments:
Kiersten just said last night to Ann and me that Grandma Lady has blocked out a lot of her child rearing years.
Well dear daughters, I can honestly say I NEVER had a night like Isla and Roscoe's mother just described! Really!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
But what a fun read Eden.
I have learned the hard way that camping in a tent only works if you put the kids to bed at separate times. Sorry to hear it was such a bust.
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