The Second Annual Magpie Staycation!

Our second official family staycation took place this past Canada Day long weekend, with much delight from children and parents alike.

I love staycations. I would almost rather have staycations than go most places. I would most assuredly rather have a staycation than camp with my children in a tent. This is the only way you will be seeing my family sleeping in a tent anytime within the next decade, I guarantee it.

So while my husband and son set up the tent my daughter swang and sang. Is swang a word?

Have you ever written down a word and then have to go and check if it’s really a word or completely made up? I swear I do it all the time. Swang was just one of those words.

She was swinging. She swung. Swang. Swinged.

Whatever.

I had beaked on Facebook that I couldn’t believe the amount I spent on “camping food”. Which translates into junk food. Food that rarely graces the cupboards of this house.

Speaking of Facebook, you can “like” me there.

Like. Seriously. How dumb. Like me!! Like me!!

But I do post little pictures, snippets and whatever rattles around my brain at any given moment that I don’t post on this website, so if you want to join the fray – and we get some hilarious conversations going- you can pop over there and chime in.  I enjoy it much more than the Twitter, I must admit. I like posting one picture with snippets of writing at a time of what’s going on, these large posts take a while to type up!

We tried out the S’Mores kit from Superstore and I give it a 10/10 for convience and a 6/10 for taste.

After the tent was up, it was time for a fire of course and thankfully due  to all the rain we’ve had lately, there is no such thing as a fire ban. I will take the rain and skeeters over dry and fire bans, even though in all honesty I would like to Deet Bomb my backyard.

We roasted marshmallows and made S’Mores, then it was time for bed. The first night I slept out there with the kids – on a twin mattress from the house, only the best for this Princess- and the second night Mike was out there.

I was really impressed, my daughter zonked right out! They did spend the day completely outside, like real camping, so after a bath in the house – BEST PART OF STAYCATIONS- she was done.

You do see my little bookworm reading in the corner there…and there was a lovely roaring fire still going…

..still roaring….

…so we let our bookworm read until it was dark out.

They are crazy, but Lord knows I love them for it.

So after a weekend of junk food, playing outside until they collapsed and fun galore, we packed up the tent, washed all the blankets and pillows and relaxed in a clean backyard Sunday evening.

The second best part of staying at home was I chewed my way through two entire books. I didn’t have to worry where the kids were, what they were doing or what mischief they were getting into. I can’t remember the last time I had hours upon hours of nothing to do but simply read.

I highly recommend giving this a shot in your own backyard, the ease with which you entertain your children is beautiful. The lack of work on my part was exhilerating. The fact that I could shower in my own house before sleeping in a tent was the clincher.

And the kids don’t care. They don’t. They do not give a whit about mountain scenery, lakes or wildlife. All it takes to make my little magpies happy is a fire, S’Mores, hotdogs and a warm parent to snuggle up to in a chilly tent under the stars.

Speaking of which, I am off to snuggle my oldest right now.

Have a wonderful evening!

Love,

The Too Lazy to Really Camp Magpie