The Malphy Family Adventures: Backyard Camping with the Boys

When Kris and I were first married, we did quite a bit of tent camping. We had just purchased our 30 acres of land with the plans to build our dream log home on it, so we spent many nights on our property, camping out in our little tent and making improvements to our land.

After we had the boys, we got rid of our camping things as we figured, "We won't be having any time to do this in the near future," and at the time, we were right. But those two little baby boys started growing up and seeing tents and campers at the parks we'd visit and what would they always ask us about? You've got it...getting a tent of our own to have at home!

This past Friday, Kris went to Gander Mountain and again purchased some camping equipment for us so that we could spend Memorial Day weekend in our backyard, cooking over an open fire and sleeping in a brand new tent. Brock had been to a friend's sleepover a few summers ago and they slept in the tent and he loved it, so I knew he enjoyed it, but Jake had never done this before, so this was a new experience for him.

Friday night after school, our first job was to get the tent set up. And what a big tent Daddy purchased! It sleeps 9, so there is plenty of room in it for us and I like the fact that we can stand upright in it. It is a Gander Mountain brand tent and it has worked real well for us this weekend.

Jake with our new tent!

Kris and Brock with the tent all up

In addition to the tent, Kris also purchased a tripod cooker for us to use when cooking over our campfire and that has been fun to use for hot dogs during our backyard camping this weekend. When not in the tent, the boys have been helping cook or roasting marshmallows of their own over the fire. They love the sense of accomplishment when they cook something for us!

Helping Daddy set up the tripod cooker

Putting hot dogs on the cooker

Why did we choose to camp in our backyard instead of going to one of the many parks in our area? There are many reasons for this and I think the first one is the fact that we love where we live. We have 30 acres for which to roam and some of what we feel is the best scenery around with the Pine River flowing just below our property, rolling hills all around us and it's really peaceful here. You don't always find those things at a campground.

Secondly, we like the fact that we can run to the house if there are things we need. "Mom, where are those marshmallows for s'mores? Did you bring the roasting sticks?" And those are just some of the questions and things we've had to run back to the house for during our little camping escapade. It's nice that we can just walk in the house for what we need.

Third, our dogs are a HUGE part of our family and it's nice that they can be here with us, too. Yes, it's nice to get away once in awhile without them, but it's also a treat when they can just lay around by the tent/campfire and be with us in the familiar surroundings of our own yard.

Do we ever plan on going to some campgrounds to try out our tent? Absolutely! We're looking forward to some great adventures doing that with our family and already have some parks picked out to explore. Not only are we having a great adventure with our family, but we're making awesome memories for our boys and that's the most important thing of all.