Testing out our Tent

Now that the Football Season is over and summer is just around the corner, we bought ourselves a tent so we can go camping again.  It's always advisable to have a go at putting up the tent at home so that firstly you can check all the parts are there, and secondly, so you don't look like a complete novice at the camp site.  I've put plenty of tents up in my time but it's better to be on the safe side and put it up at home first, rather than away on the weekend at a new campsite without the camping shop near by if any parts are missing.

When researching all the tents, I have opted for "space and height" as this tent will do us for the next ten years.  I'm over walking around a tent half bent over and getting a sore back.  Our tent has three rooms in total.  One at either end and one in the middle which will basically be for storage and/or if all the baths are done the kids are not quite ready for bed, there is room for them to play board games, do drawings etc.  We are all very excited about our new tent and looking forward to having some wonderful camping trips.  Kids love camping and it's great to be away from tv's and get some fresh air.  It's also a great feeling to be sitting around a camp fire and so this summer it's all about making wonderful memories and getting out of the normal routines.

Here's a few photos of us putting up the tent for the first time.  I didn't bother putting the fly up this time but we are all very happy and can't wait to try it out for real.  Not so happy when I tried to reverse the process by taking it down and putting it away.  The taking it down part was easy, trying to fit the tent back into it's original bag - not so easy and that will need another attempt by me however for now the tent is all in the bag but the bag won't close.  Here's to Summer 2012 with my kids and our new holiday shack.  You'd think our back yard was a National Park anyway except for the obvious chicken coup in the background.  My favourite picture below is the one of us altogether leaning over the bag reading the instructions.  What a great idea, they are written on material and sewn into the side of the bag.