Spring Break, Part II -- More Backyard Fun: Tent Night, Baby Pool and Hideout

With the beautiful weather and plenty of time on our staycation, unsurprisingly we spent a lot of our vacation out back, in our lovely backyard.  First, on April 3rd, we had a Tent Night.  Originally, we had booked a campsite for most of our Spring Break.  We were going to camp at St. John's Peninsula on Florida's Gulf Coast.  Unfortunately, the forecast was crummy.  It was supposed to rain our first three days.  We decided not to risk it -- our first trip camping with two kids, rain, the beach with nothing to do in the rain didn't sound like a recipe for success.  It turned out to be a bit of a blessing in disguise.  Scott had a ton of work for his master's that he needed to do over the break and staying at home was a lot more relaxing than trying to get us all packed and ready to go.  Another added benefit is that we decided to use the money we saved from cancelling our trip and book a trip to Disney World in June.  We realized that camping at Fort Wilderness is only a little more expensive and well worth the few extra dollars, especially since we'll be able to enjoy their new pool and water play area.  I'm so excited. 

Now, back to Tent Night... Elijah was disappointed that we had to cancel our camping trip. Therefore, we decided to try to make it up to him a little by sleeping in the tent one night.  The results of the tent night were a bit mixed.  I think Elijah slept okay, but Scott and I were sleep deprived and bleary in the morning.  I think the fact that the kids are on different schedules was tricky for sleeping in the tent.  Keira stays up later and sleeps later, while Elijah's usually asleep at 7:00 and wakes up at 6:00.  The combination of the two sleep schedules zonked us.  In the morning, we took turns napping and trying to recover.  Hopefully, our next adventure in the tent will be more successful, as far as sleep is concerned.  We hope that while we are in Disney, our sleep schedules will be more in tune.  In spite of our sleep issues, the kids LOVED the tent and couldn't get enough of it.  After Scottie set up the tent, the kids practiced getting in and out of the tent over and over again.  Then, they had a ball cuddling with their stuffed animals and snuggling in their sleeping bags while Elijah read to Keira.

Over the break the weather was gorgeous and so warm on a few days that we even broke out the baby pool.  Our community pool doesn't open until Memorial Day Weekend which is okay since it gives us a reason to have some water fun in the backyard.

Finally, I mentioned in an earlier post that Scott has had a glut of projects this spring.  He's been amazingly productive, besides the garden, he also cleared out a substantial portion of the undergrowth in our back yard.  He cleared out the little shrubs, prickly plants and vines and left the trees, which made for a great new play area for the kids.  At first, they weren't overly excited about the new area, but then Scott mentioned that they should go see their new hideout.  Immediately, they enthusiastically started exploring it.  Scott put chairs and a little table under the canopy.  They started a game of Jake of the Never Land Pirates complete with their telescope.  They also insisted on having their snack in their new hideout.